Star Vs The Rebellion Vs The Foreign Enemy
by Twila Star
Summary: SvsTFOE AU. Mewni is a tyrannical planet that has conquered many planets and Earth is included. Marco is one of the major leaders in Earth's Rebellion forces but gets captured by the Mewni Empire. Star ends up meeting Marco, and takes an interests to him. But behind the scene a bigger enemy is lurking, forcing the rebellion and the empire to work together against the common enemy.
1. Life on Earth

**Hey everyone! This is my first Star vs The Forces of Evil Fanfic, ever. I totally wasn't planning on writing one, until I actually came onto the fanfiction! I was inspired by, not even a story, but a summary that said there was way too many STARCO fanfics. I hadn't really realized it until I saw that, and scrolling down the list I did see most of the stories said Starco pairing.**

 **I am a Starco fan myself, but I didn't want the fanfic to blend into the crowd as something you could read in every other fanfic so I wanted to try to bring some... creative writing into this category. This story is an Alternate Universe, where Mewni is another planet, not a different dimension, with settings said in the summary, full one here:**

 _SvsTFOE AU. Mewni is a tyrannical planet that has conquered countless planets and made them their territories/ colonies, and Earth is included. Marco is one of the major leaders in Earth's Rebellion forces with his past history in Karate. But during one of the battles for an important junction he gets captured and assigned as a slave of the Mewni Empire. Princess Star Butterfly loves fighting monsters in her backyard, and hearing about The Rebellion, she wanted a post in fighting against them. She's denied and she ends up trying to take it out on the servants, where she meets Marco. She takes an interests to him, and as they get to know each other better, they don't notice behind the scenes that a bigger, foreign empire is ready to declare war on Mewni to take them and all their territories captive. Together they must bind against the common enemy and grow closer as a united Empire._

 **Now I know I'm not a fanatic SvsTFOE fan, but I haven't missed an episode yet! And any other help I need I'll get from wikis! :P So hopefully you all don't jump on any mistakes or take offense to any inaccuracy, because after all, it still takes place in an alternate universe and that leaves room for some creative interpretation on my part! I'll try to update every week or 2, and will inform you if I can't do it int he time limit for whatever reason! If I don't update or tell you why, I'm dead XP (slash, just send me angry mms telling me to update)**

 **Please enjoy the first chapter of Star Vs The Rebellion Vs The Foreign Enemy.**

 _ **Life on Earth.**_

* * *

 _Marco struggled to get the 'Safe Kid' note that was slapped onto his back off as he made his way to his house, the walk being relatively short. He looked down at it, rolling his eyes._

 _"It's like they just don't listen! I'm not safe! I'm just a misunderstood b-bad boy." He hesitated on the words, knowing he was just trying to fool himself along with the rest of the school. Ok, so he knew he wasn't some bad boy, but he definitely wasn't some extreme safe kid! He sighed, feeling a little more lonely than usual that day. Ferguson was out sick that day and Alfonzo have been gone all week on vacation with his family at some reunion._

 _He let the paper fall to the floor as he moved on, when it suddenly flew past him, being carried by the wind. He looked questioningly at it flying down the sidewalk, and realized it's been sunny all day, a little hot and dry, and the wind was unusual. His eyes casting up to the sky, he also realized it had begun to cloud over._

 _"The News didn't forecast any rain today..." He said recalling his morning. When he noticed the clouds taking on an ominous green look to it, his head swiveled around, taking survey of the sky, and noticed behind him dark purple ships with pink tinted windows and bulbs descending down into Echo Creek._

 _"Oh no." He gasped._

 _The ships began raining down lasers around, and rays of light shot down vertically to the Earth, objects which Marco could only assume were aliens coming down the tractor beam. '_ Is this really happening? Are we being invaded?! _' Marco thought. He began to notice thy weren't really shooting at anything important like buildings, just setting trees on fire and blasting pavement._

 _"The school!" He said, his mind flashing to all those people. He should go and protect them! He had a green belt in Karate after all! But he was too scared! Sure, he wasn't safe kid, but he wasn't going to throw himself in danger! Then he remembered Jeremy would probably still be at school! He could protect them! But... he'd probably need help. Marco Diaz finally made his resolve. He set one foot out in the direction of the school when a smaller invader ship came out of the clouds above him towards where the suburbs were, the neighborhoods._

 _His house._

 _"No! Mom, Dad!" He quickly turned around away from the school and booked it to his house. Of course he didn't beat the flying contraption to the houses, but it wasn't like they were headed straight for his house, so as they were setting trees on fire and ruining sidewalks, he weaved through the danger to get to his house. Behind him, Mewni soldiers were already being deployed down into the neighborhood._

 _He reached his home and busted through the doors, his parents still making lunch, unaware of the chaos happening outside._

 _"Marco! You're early, wha-" His mom started, but Marco cut her off._

 _"Mom, Dad, we have to get somewhere safe! Outside! there's-" He was cut off himself by the Mewni soldiers coming through the doors. His parents screamed out in fear as Marco was caught off guard in surprise. But soon wore off as his sense of protection for his family came through, and he karate chopped the closest one of the soldiers that were flooding into the house._

 _"Wah! Ha, Kah!" He yelled out Karate shouts as he clipped down one after another, but soon his concentration was broken as he heard his mom call out to him._

 _"Marco!" He whipped around, seeing some of the soldiers had spilled past him to his parents, where his dad had the lamp trying to fend off the hoard, his mom cowering behind her husband._

 _"Mom!" His moment of vulnerability allowed the soldiers to knock him over the head, knocking him to the floor. He watched his dad get overpowered from his position on the floor, before his vision was blocked by the Mewni's legs as they surrounded him._

Marco's eyes dilated as they flew open, the last of his nightmare temporarily making him hyperventilate. With one quick look at his surroundings allowed him to catch his breath as he sat up in his bed. He can't believe he was still having _those_ nightmares. He shrugged as he guessed it was because his mind just didn't want to believe the events that led to Mewni taking over the earth as one of it's territories. Kept giving it back to him as if telling him 'See what you did wrong, and fix it so we can go back to normal life.'

Marco scoffed. He did nothing wrong. These people just went about their normal business of taking over worlds, and Earth just happened to be the next one. He shifted, so he could swing his legs over the side of his makeshift bed. Since the actual invasion, the "Mewnies" corralled the residents in Echo Creek to the front of the school, where a lady who looked like she was wearing a powdered wig and renaissance make up was standing on the roof of the school, the mother ship hovering eerily behind her. She told everyone that they had just displayed their power and what they could do to the Earth if they didn't surrender peacefully.

"And we so hate what happens next if you don't surrender peacefully! It's such a mess to clean up! We'd rather you surrendered now and kept your planet beautiful for it to become a new Mewni colony!" She had said with disgusting sweetness.

Marco's eyes narrowed as he remembered as they did exactly as she asked, and handed her the key to the city. They moved on, leaving a couple troops to babysit their town, and soon the whole world was the Mewni's. Marco was startled out of his thoughts when a knock came to his door.

"Hey, Marco? You ok? Some of the higher ups started getting worried when you didn't show up at breakfast."

Marco smiled at hearing Jackie's voice behind his door. Of course there were those who wouldn't take this sitting down like some of the officials in office. They ended up building an underground resistance group. Literally underground, so that they weren't based in any "one town" so that the Mewnies couldn't take care of them by bombing them out, and then the other advantage was that they couldn't find them or their secret entrances to the underground rebel base. Sometimes Marco felt like an ant, making tunnels underground, and pockets in the earth as rooms, like bedrooms and dining rooms, but it was the safest place.

Even now, Marco's "room" where Jackie was knocking was a hole in the ground, 4 walls of hardened packed dirt and a small makeshift door out of tree bark that would lead out to a tunneled hallway. His bed taking up half his circular room and to one side of the door piles of paper containing strategies, and possible Mewni plans.

"Yea I'm ok. Just lost in thought." He said, finally moving from his bed to open the door on it's precarious hinges. Turned out most of the people that decided to Rebel were the teens that went to his school. The kids are tomorrow's future, huh? Well, then they'd want it to be the best that it can be.

Jackie still had her blonde hair (although more dirty from the tunnels) with the beautiful blue streak in it like a river, but it was longer and in a loose low pony tail, it freely curling about her face. She now wears a purple crop top that looks ripped and knee and elbow pads from her skateboarding for battles. she has jeans on and shin high sneakers, and padded fingerless gloves.

Marco himself was wearing his normal hooded red jacket, but due to other circumstances, the arm sleeves had to be ripped off so he wears it like a vest. He also had padded fingerless gloves and ripped and tattered jeans with sneakers. And he also had a bandage on his face from a recent battle. Jackie blushed upon seeing him, and turned around, so he couldn't see her face.

"Um, anyways, you know the way." She started walking. Marco called after her, slightly blushing himself.

"Wait, uh, walk with me?" He asked, slightly afraid she'll turn down. She stopped, that was a good sign. She nodded without turning back, but obviously waiting for him. He closed his door, as well as his thoughts.

' _I should just get over that already.'_ He said to himself with resolve. ' _It happened two years ago.'_

* * *

The two 16 year olds moved through the dirt hallways until it opened up into a larger area than the bedrooms, lit up by multiple torches, where groups of teens sat at tables eating vegitables they grew in the ground.

"Oh, I miss meat!" Marco heard someone call out in a joking manner, those who heard him humored him with some chuckles, and Marco was one as he held his own stomach, it suddenly growling with the thoughts of bacon for breakfast. but they couldn't complain. The vegitables had all the nutrients they needed to live and not all the fats, although there were vegitables with fat, like avocado. It definitely helped the muscle build, like the lean build Marco had, sporting out of his sleeveless jacket. Jackie more than noticed the girls giving Marco the eye as he walked past them all to the higher ups.

He sat at the table with some adults and a few other teens, about 7 higher ups in total excluding himself. They greeted him, and pushed that day's breakfast towards him. Sliced potatoes baked with chives and peppers. Marco gave them appreciative smiles, taking his helping. He noticed they were a little quiet for people who were waiting for him to come back, he looked up and realized they were secretly eyeing Jackie who was lurking around behind him. He turned around to face her.

"Hey, uh, do you mind waiting for me by your usual table? I'll make my way over soon." He said giving her a small smile. She noted how they had something serious to talk about, something that shouldn't be heard outside the higher ups yet. She moved out of hearing range but still looked towards the table.

While shifting in place, looking over anxiously towards the table, Ferguson and Alfonzo, both having shaped up since the invasions and joining the rebel base.

"Hey, is that Marco?" Alfonzo asked.

"Yea. They're in a meeting about something. But it's something so important that they even sent me away! And I'm his second in command..." She murmured the last part.

"Hey, don't take it so hard! At least you can hang out with him more often then we can! We're in totally different unit then him! breakfast is the only time we can _really_ see him, and even then, we're just _seeing_ him. Like, just looking from afar." He tried to comfort.

"If you think that's comforting, your wrong. Being far away from someone allows you to become distant, but when you're so close to someone, being with them all the time..." Jackie studied Marco's profile as he nodded his head in serious discussion, her cheeks heating up slightly. "...And yet you can't get to them, it hurts more."

The head of the rebellion, a teacher from the school that teaches junior class, pushed forward a piece of paper.

"Do you know what this is?" He asked in a slight Spanish accent. Marco looked down to study the content. It had sketches of a building that looked like a warehouse, or an assembly belt factory. The diagram had annotations of the structure, like the window viewed into the head office, both main doors were constantly guarded but side entrances were just patrolled. Marco looked up with a guess.

"Weapons assembly for Mewni Empire?"

"Correct. And we've also gotten word that some adults- some of these teens' parents- are being forced to work in there."

Marco nodded, getting the gist of what he was saying. "If we can shut down or destroy that factory, and those adults underground, we'd be knocking two birds out with one stone, by cutting off a major weapons factory and reducing their "workforce" down."

"Right, we need a team, any size, according to your judgment, to get in, get everyone out, destroy the factory and get out quick. So we need you since you're our specialized leader in combat." The man said. Marco nodded again in understanding.

"When do we need to move out?"

"We'd like to get this destroyed before this weekend." Marco grimaced slightly.

"Kinda close deadline, huh?"

"We believe in you." He assured, the other higher ups giving him encouraging nods. One of the teens who were also apart of the higher ups as a tech specialist moved to speak to him.

"After you feel ready or when you have time, I think I have created a specialized weapon to destroy the factory relatively quickly! If you feel you can use it." He said bashfully. "And it works on potatoes!"

Marco smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks, we'll need all the help we can get. Marco finally took the first bite of his breakfast before getting up, abandoning it. He moved over to Jackie who was left alone by the two former nerds. She moved to him, livelier than before.

"So?" She asked.

"Get the usual together, we start right away."

* * *

 **So... I guess that's the first chapter. I don't know, I wasn't really planning on ending it here, and it seems kinda abrupt in my head but I guess, I need _something_ for the next chapter, huh?**

 **Please review, I'll continue to try my hardest! I must tell you, I get motivated to write chapters when others are excited for the next one! Translated through reviews!**

 **Next Chapter: _Life on Mewni_**


	2. Life on Mewni

**Hey everyone, nice to see your smiling faces again. I'm trying to update as often as I promised, and this is my first time I'm trying to, so I'd love to see some loyal fans earnestly waiting for each new chapter. (It's -coff- always been a dream of mine.) LOL, thanks you for the reviews thus far, and hope you enjoy this next chapter. Not sure how I'll end this one. :/**

 ** _Life on Mewni_**

* * *

Rays of light cascaded past light blue curtains to spill onto fair skin. A blonde flipped over in bed, not wanting to get up just yet. She burrowed further beneath the covers in an attempt to hide from the coming morning, her head hidden from sight, yet it wasn't meant to be.

A Pixie servant flew into Princess Star Butterfly's room and landed on her pillow with the sounds of soft tinkling. She began her struggle to lift the covers away from the girl's face, speaking to her as she tried.

"It's time to get up, your majesty!" She groaned under the weight of the covers. "You'll be late to your breakfast with your family! And you know how your mother would feel about that!"

Of course to Star, it just sounded like a bunch of jingle bells. And that was worse than an alarm clock. She snapped her hand which possesed her wand towards the fairy, hitting her and whipping her across the room, Star's way of shutting off her alarm. The fairy yelped as it flew across the room and slammed against the wall and slid into an open jar on top of Star's dresser.

"Er, very good, princess..." She mumbled, dazed, knowing she's done her job of waking up the beast. No one liked waking up the teenage girl early in the morning, for the princess was _not_ a morning person.

Star's head emerged from the sheets, her blonde hair a tangled mess strewn about her face. She smacked her lips lazily, her eyes not quite yet open. But she soon did, reavling sparkling blue eyes. She rubbed at them and looked around.

"What time is it?" She yawned as she got out of bed and stratched her backside. She moved to the window and drew back her curtains, slightly wincing in face of so much sudden light. She peaked down at the garden that her room had view of and searched for the sun dial she's looked at so many times before.

"Ah..." She murmured when she found it. She just... stare at it for a while, not really registering what it said, but she finally freaked out.

"Aaah! 10:45?! I'm gonna be late for breakfast!" Star did _not_ want to be late for breakfast! She wasn't looking foward to anything there, no, she _definitely_ wasn't looking foward to anything there, but she didn't want her mom to cut into her day with a long speech about how being prompt and on time is becoming of a queen of such an important empire. And- she wasn't really listening- she's pretty sure her mom said last speech that if she was late again, she'd take away her wand for a day! She'd be magic-grounded!

Star flustered around for a comb while going to her adjacent bathroom. She found it on her desk where the pixie was just making her way out the jar and Star spotted her, sparing her a moment out of her rushing.

"You!" Star glared. the pixie yelped, having regretted coming out the jar. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?! Take this! Rainbow-Spider Web-Snare!" She blasted her wand in the fairy's direction and she was entangled in a rainbow web.

She struggled to get out, but soon a similarly colorful spider came out the corner of it's web and advanced towards the fairy. The fairy let out a scream, struggling all the more, still just sounding like bells, and Star skipped away, thinking nothing of it.

What? Her mom have always told her, 'Think nothing of lowly creatures and servants.' And 'If they do bad, then servants must be punished.' And the always favorite: 'The servants are there to please _you_.'

Besides, that pixie was just being a wimp! The spider wouldn't eat her! The spell wouldn't last long enough for the spider to eat her! Maybe wrap her up and get ready to sink her teeth into her but not _eat_ , she just needs to get scared, punished.

Star quickly brushed her hair with one hand and brushed her teeth with another, she gargled then spit, making her way to her dew bath. She flung off all her clothes then dipped in, barely before her underwear came off. She sat in it peacefully for 3 seconds before she yelled, "Ok, that's done!"

She went under the magic dryer to get dried, went to her walk in closet and picked out what mother always wants her to wear: her blue princess dress. She made her way to the vanity mirror to decide what to do with her hair. It was still slightly wet, so she blasted at her face and put it in a pony tail.

"Who knows? Maybe it'll dry to curl nicely, or frizz to no end!" Then, just in case of the frizzing thing, she placed a rather obnoxious bow atop her ponytail. Slipped on shoes and she was ready to go! She made her way out the door just as the spider spell wore off the pixie.

"Eoh! Note to self, never wake the princess again!"

* * *

Star rushed down the steps to the main dining hall, glancing at the hall mirror one more time to make sure she was presentable to mother. Ugh, yep, hair frizzing to no ends! Good thing she put the bow! Teehee! She looked behind her to the clock on the wall, powered by the sun's position outside, and saw she wasn't late, she was right on time. Breakfast at 11:00.

She positioned herself in front of the double doors and as it was opened by servants on the opposite side, she almost forgot why she _sooo_ wasn't looking foward to breakfast.

"Princess Star Butterfly. Good Morning." Tom greeted, rising from his seat to do so. Star's eye twitched in annoyance, but still calmly made her way to the breakfast table. Prince Tom from the allying Fire planet was to have breakfast with them that day. Everyday but Sunday and Saturday.

"Prince _Tim_ " She said purposely to annoy him. It worked, of course, as his hair flared slightly but his face looked like it unfazed him.

"Ha, Tom. Prince _Tom._ " He made sure to emphasize.

"Oops! Haha, silly me. You must forgive me, your name is just so forgettable~" She slightly grinded out, making her way to her chair opposite of Tom. Her mother and father obviously sat at extreme ends of the table. Star didn't flinch as his hair more than flared but his whole face reflected his anger. His eyes whiting out and hs hair flew into an inferno.

"What did you say?!" He screamed, but Star just calmly took her seat.

"You heard m-"

"That is enough!" Both parents said, the mother speaking to Star and the Father speaking to Tom. They both turned away from the scolders. But soon after, Tom sighed.

"You look lovely today, Star."

"Thank you, Tim."

"Why, you-!"

"MUSIC! Can someone please get the musicians in here?" The father interrupted. "I think it's about time to get this breakfast going! We all have things to do! So we'll listen to music while we eat, not speak and just eat."

Tom looked disappointed, like he wasn't done trying to win over Star but he knew it was probably for the best and that today wasn't going to get better for them. Star was more than thankful for this change of pace, but she felt like this was just the calm before the storm, you know, the storm that occurs as soon as comapany's out the door? But they ate nontheless.

* * *

The Butterfly family bid Tom good bye and safe travels back to his planet and closed the door. Maybe Tom could come back?

"STAR! What were you thinking?" Her mother whirled on her as soon as the door was closed. Star shrunk down, feeling like she was 3 again.

"But mom-"

"No butts! You know you are arranged to marry Prince Tom, and there is no changing that, so you should try harder to get along with him! Not do petty things to annoy him like call him a name you know isn't his!"

"Mooom-"

"These mornings are so you don't have to go into an arranged marriage without ever knowing an inkling of your spouse, like I did. But Since you seem to still need to learn the basics, you will write "Prince Tom" in your education journal for three pages."

"What- but!"

"Front and back!"

"Mo-"

"March!"

Star let out an anger inducing frustrated curtling groan before whipping around on her heel and making her way to the education room. Her parents stood there watching her go a moment before the King spoke up.

"You've never regretted marrying me by arranged marriage before, have you?"

"You want to talk about feeling _now_?" She asked.

"No! nope. Never mind." He edged away from her.

Star busted into her small recreational room and took out her education journal. This was so unfair! And way worse than a speech about being proper! This will cut majorly into her free time for the day up to lunch. She began writting, and somewhere in the middle of the front of the second page, she found herself writing 'Prince Tim.'

Maybe she started doing that because she was hoping a different prince, maybe a prince Tim would show up and ask for her hand in marriage instead of Tom. Her mother said the breakfasts were to get to know the future husband, but she doesn't want to marry him so bad because she knew him!

He was rude, a bully, and vengeful! He had a horrible temper and he was hardly romantic. What he calls romantic might be illegal in 3 other solar systems. She just wished for the Prince of her dreams, and soon she found herself dodling possible canidates for good looking prince. She looked out to the sky and saw how low the shadows hung. It must be 1:00 by now! She flung herself off the bed, deciding she's thought about what she've done long enough. Lunch was at 3:00 and she had no more time to lose.

"See ya, room!" She bid, running out. After the door closed most of the objects and furniture bid her farewell as well.

Star bounced down the spiral stair case and snagged her bow and arrow bag before making her way out to the garden maze. It was time for Star's favorite past-time, exercise, and hobby! Monster hunting! She loved making up new spells to beat up forests beasts and nursing the superiority feeling she has that comes with being a princess while still being herself.

She ducked into the garden shed to change into her "Forest clothes." Did she forget to mention? Her mother would absolutely flip _out_ if she knew she went out and fought monsters instead of learning to ride horses or trimming roses. She came out sporting a light blue t-shirt with a protective chest plate and a plaid pleated skirt colored with blue, purple, pink, and gray. She had light gray boots on and gray socks, and arching gloves.

"Ok!" She dashed off to the back of the garden closest to the twisted forest*, where one can find Mewni's wildlife. She jumped over deftly and made her way deeper. Soon she quietly moving around, to not scare away any monsters before she could get to them. She spotted one purple looking monster hunched over, seeming to be eating some flowers. Star grinned, focusing on the monster. She spun her wand and it transformed into an archery bow, her wand symbol at the top of it, and the string was a stream of magic connecting from top to bottom of the bow.

She took hold of the string with her forefinger and pulled back, steadily aiming at the monster. She released, an arrow of magic coming out and gliding over to the beast. It struck and it yelped as it fell over.

"Oh yeah!" She cheered, twirling her bow turning it back into a wand for more serious battling. She jumped over a fallen tree and a boulder to get closer to her pray but then stopped in her advance, walking back into the rock staring wide eye at the beast that stood back up, towering 7 feet, 2 feet taller than her, with claws and a long muzzle. The pinkish purple monster's fuzzy appearance was misleading as it's long claws swiped at her dangerously.

"Oh gosh...!" She squeaked to herself, before turning around to try to scramble back over the rock. The monster scratched at the rock just as she made it to the peak, leaving superficial scratch marks on the rock, but still impressive. For it to leave marks with just it's claws, it's claws had to be like steel. She positioned herself on the rock to turn back to the monster, now leveled with it's face.

"Flaming Crystal Marshmallow attack!" Star yelled, unleashing the power of the wand. The monster roared at the burning sensation and fell back, allowing Star to make her escape. She hopped off the other side of the rock and hopped over the tree and ran the opposite direction. She dared a look over her shoulder and she saw the beast jumped, practically soaring over the obstacles in order to pursue his attacker. She saw it gaining ground fast, so she turned around to face it instead.

"Magic rainbow fire wall!" She ordered, as she pointed towards the ground with the wand like it was a hose, and colorful fire presented itself like a tall wall. Viewing the beast on the other side of the fire not slowing down, she took precaution and as she twirled around, she yelled, "Bubbled gum barrier!" Soon she was surrounded in a pink see-through sphere.

The beast rolled over the fire, singing it's fur but with no major damage, and Star cringed as it quickly made it's way over and smack her protection. She was thrown back and collided with a tree, her barrier popping, and she fell, her face scratching against the bark.

She looked up groggy at the approaching monster and stuck up her wand, her mind too scrambled to really think.

"Super... light... explosion!" A bright light escaped the wand, blinding the beast, and effectively scaring it away. Star just stayed there, tired and still a little groggy, before she got up and looked up to the sky.

"Oooh, man. 2:30, already?" Star began her way back to the garden wall. She climbed over carefully, feeling a little sore and turned around and gasped.

"What are you doing, young lady?" The queen asked.

"Mom! Uh, I was-" Star gasped.

"Were you off fighting monsters again?! Oh, my- What is this? Your 3rd or 4th time?" _Well, actually, my 64th, but you don't need to know that..._ Star thought to herself.

"How many times do I have to tell you?! It is not proper for-r-r-r-aah!" She freaked out at the end, pointing at Star's cheeks.

"What?" Star asked, touching it. Moving it away she found blood. The scratch had cut across her heart covered cheeks.

"Oh my, this is why I tell you not to go fight monsters! And now you're injured! Worse yet, it's on your face! A princess's face is everything! Happy? You ruined your everything! And worse yet, I found your journal."

"Oh boy..."

"Not only did you not write 3 pages, you have doodles instead!" Star could only stand with her arms behind her back, her head hanging down.

"That's it! If you can't stay out of trouble, I will help you! You are grounded! Not to leave the castle, not even for the garden for 3 days!"

"3 days?!" Star couldn't believe it! What was she gonna do? Breathe in and out in a room? That's boring!

"Yes! Now go and get ready for lunch!" Star pouted but moved on ahead. A monster servant was waiting in her room to help change her and bandage up her wounds. Star began thinking on her way down to lunch.

"What can I do if I can't go outside to beat up wild monsters?"... Star grinned deviously.

"I guess I'll just have to beat up docile monsters!" She looked left and right, noting the hallway that led to the servant's quarters. Soon she was skipping on her way.

"After all! They are here to please me!"

* * *

 ***The Twisted Forest is a place from Fusion Fall, It's not my own idea, but it sounded fitting!**

 **Ok, so a little longer than expected, but that's good for you guys, right? Hoped you liked it, and for those that don't like Star's personality or think she's OOC, it'll change with the coming of Marco! sorry, please bear with it!**

 **Please review and looked forward to the next chapters!**

 _ **Next Chapter: Battle Front**_


	3. Battle Front

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews! I'm really feeling the love and it encourages me to update regularly for you guys! I forgot to say these past couple chapters:**

 **I do not own Star Vs. The Forces of Evil. Enjoy!**

 _ **Battle Front**_

* * *

Marco watched with Jackie standing beside him the 8 people training in the large recreational room. It was these people who he trusted to always watch his back, ever since the take-over. There were different situations about each of them that had ended up with him keeping them close, and eventually, he only trusted them for missions to do, who he considered reliable. Marco side stepped as a punching bag flew off it's chain and flew against the wall where Marco was standing. Marco just stood looking at it, slightly amused and impressed.

"Sorry about that, Marco." A big buff, wide teen in a gray t-shirt and a bandana wrapped around his head and left arm and black cargo pants said walking over.

"Don't worry about it, Lars." Marco said, smiling good naturedly at his old high school bully. "Just be a bit more careful next time, kay?" Lars laughed as he lugged the punching bag back over his shoulder.

"Still being cautious, huh, safe kid?" He said, starting to walk away. Marco, flustered, waved his arms around frantically.

"Dah-Wa-Aa-Don't call me that! You're the only one who still calls me that!" He blushed at the embarrassing name.

"Oh, sorry, right, it was being a misunderstood bad boy." Marco stifled his groaned as he could have melted from the embarrassing past in high school.

"Don't be too mean to him." Justin said from his position on the floor, with an air rifle, aiming at plastic cans across the room. He wiped at his blonde hair before giving Jackie a wink from her position next to Marco. "He's sensitive." Marco noticed it, and advanced forward in front of Jackie, acting as though he was just continuing his conversation with Justin.

"Am not!" He said, overly fumed. Justin scoffed.

"Yea, ok." And he went back to aiming. Marco moved back to the wall next to Jackie, where she gave him a light squeeze on the arm, as either a way of thanks from the flirtatious teen or as a way of comforting him from the assault of embarrassing comments. Either way, it was still embarrassing as he gave a slight blush at the touch.

He continued watching, eventually focusing on a couple of cheerleaders, Hope, Sabrina, and Andrea, while they made maneuvers. He watched them do a specific one where two of them ran on ahead, and linked each others hands, and the other caught up, jumping off their step-up and flipping forward. Theythen move on to practice hand-to-hand combat fit for weaker beings such as themselves that might face enemies twice their size. Quick and effective jabs and kicks. He scanned past them, looking at the rest of practice until it rested on Janna and Chantelle who were with that nerdy higher up who was showing them how to rig the bombs and disable it in case of emergencies, anything they need to know to get ready.

His eyes stayed on Janna as he remembered how she was his first friend when he was separated from Ferguson and Alfonzo. She had been jolly and quick witted with her jokes and kept light of the situation even though things looked bleak. If he thought about it, Janna would've been his second in command if Jackie hadn't shown how kick butt and flexible she was. But she was still very useful, 3rd in command if anyone was counting, and she was mostly used for under cover espionage missions, and recon missions for information.

Lastly, he looked over at Oskar who was just bopping his head to some music. Marco slightly frowned at the _nothing_ he was doing. When Marco first met Oskar, he was very annoyed at how laid back he was, like everything would become fine soon. It wasn't until one of the battles, when he saw Oskar take out 40 Mewni soliders on his own, and he did it all like he was dancing to his music.

Of course that wasn't the only reason that he had him on his 'usuals' crew, but the one time he was actually fighting side by side with him, and he felt like they were dancing together, in perfect unison, and Marco felt like he didn't have to even worry if Oskar was covering his back, he knew he was. He felt at ease, it was like the easiest fight he's ever done, it was like they were making music with their fighting motions. So you could say Marco had him because he was his ease, stress reliever, and the team's ace. So, nowadays, Marco's only slightly annoyed with him. He did nothing during trainings (annoying thing one) and then still is a naturally good fighter (annoying thing number two). Not so much Marco could say he's jealous, but he wanted to know how he got so good.

Marco looked up at the clock on the wall and saw the time.

"Ok guys, time to move out." All his selected crew winded down what they were doing, putting stuff away or bringing it with them. Marco moved out the double wide wood doors, leading his team out, Jackie not far behind him, when he saw Jeremy walking down the same hallway, with Ed and Tammy flanking either side of him, no doubt going to the recreational room to practice with "his team."

Jeremy was now 10, and he grew taller, his hair having grown out more, now cascading over one of his eyes, giving him a peek-a-boo look. Most girls go crazy for it, and how adorable the 10 year old was. In the "cafeteria" of their base, you could almost find him always with girls around him, feeding his ego. As the two walked past each other, they gave each other glares.

"Hey, look who it is, the loser." Jeremy crowed at Marco.

After the invasion and most people went underground, Marco heard about how Jeremy was at the school but barely did anything to help, as it was discovered he was too scared and knew too little karate anyways. He cheated mostly through the lessons using his money. Some of the richer ones, like Brittany and her family, stayed above ground, taking advantage of the fact that as long as they followed Mewni colony laws, they were basically treated like royalty.

Jeremy's family went as well, and Jeremy would have went with them if he didn't want to be someone looked at as important or special, such as, Marco didn't know, savior of the world? But when roles were being handed out and leaders for units, Jeremy wanted a leader role for the combat unit, but when he saw that the higher ups were going to choose Marco, he tried to bribe them with money, or tattle telling on the secret base. That didn't work too well, as they soon took him to school, saying all the flaws of why he would be a bad leader, starting with he was spoiled. Marco was laughing it up at him as they lectured him, but soon became anxious as they declared they wanted Marco to lead. Back then he wasn't up to it, but now he was totally used to it and couldn't see himself as a follower anymore.

They convinced Jeremy that he was still a very useful warrior, so he stayed, actually being assigned in Marco's unit, but still being upset and feeling cheated, he decided to divide camp. He convinced a couple like Ed and Tammy to join his side, saying he was the better leader. And they actually believed him! So now Jeremy and his little group wasn't often included in Marco's missions. Psh, he could be in his unit, but he wasn't going to babysit him.

Jeremy chuckled, continuing his trash talking, as the group behind Marco got annoyed at the inconvenience. "Can you believe they made this guy a higher up?" He chuckled to his two cronies.

He could only make out sounds of displeasure coming from behind him, refraining themselves from hurting this guy in front of their captain.

"Jeremy, it's not only about being a higher-"

"Blah, blah, blah, I bet they wouldn't be so lenient about the losers they let be higher ups if they lost to me, huh? Come guy." Jeremy gave Marco's stomach a shove, as that's how far Jeremy's height got him. Marco slightly stepped back from the impact, but his face still only showed mild annoyance.

"Look, I thought we were pass..." Marco trailed off as Lars moved past his frame and in front of Jeremy. Jeremy stopped bouncing around cockily in front of the huge teen that towered over him, casting a shadow.

"Ok, yeah, Jeremy, one-on-one, let's go." He pounded his fists into the other palm. Marco kinda snickered behind him, knowing Lars wouldn't _really_ hurt him. At least... he thinks. Jeremy paled and gave a sheepish laugh.

"Uh, actually, we have to go train now." He started off.

"Heh, alright, we'll just be going off on a special mission." Marco called after him, knowing that would drive him crazy with jealousy. And Marco was right as Jeremy flinched at those words.

"WHAT! I wanna go! I want a special mission, it's no fair, I'm just as good as you, MARCOO!" He wailed like a brat, but no one in Marco's crew even gave him a glance back as they moved on.

* * *

Marco and the others arrived at the underground monorail boarding platform that would lead them above ground at the destination they were headed, just outside Echo Creek. The monorail was like the rebels' subway, the only way to get around, a real underground railroad. On the platform, the group geared up with what they needed: rifles, handguns, flash bombs, stink bombs, and tear gas. And in case of close combat, knives, and small swords.

The sleek train pulled up as the group finished gathering their own specialized weapons, and one of the adult higher ups that accompanied them down to the platform walked up to Marco.

"Remember to be careful. Keep everyone alive. We want this Mewni war to end, but at very little cost, ok? And you too. You're a very special boy, we can't afford to lose you, and I don't think your unit would listen to anyone else anyways." The adult chuckled at the end. Marco shared a smile with the concerned adult.

"You got it. Thanks, I promise each one of them will come back." Marco gave a curt nod and turned his rifle clad back to the adult and headed to the train, where his team had already climbed on, and was holding the door open for him. They took their seats as the monorail moved, feeling nervous as this was one of the bigger missions that a lot were riding on.

Marco found a comfortable position in a chair and pulled out his log journal. He began recording the mission, like who was with him, what they were set out to do, etc. Jackie sat down next to him while he was writing, leaning in closer to see what he was recording. Marco couldn't help but notice how close their bodies were, so naturally his face heated up. Then he heard Jackie hum as a start to her sentence, so he concentrated on that instead.

"July 1st, huh? Independence day is suppose to be in 3 days... ironic, huh?" She said softly in the solemn atmosphere. Marco gave a light laugh.

"Yea... but maybe when we get these adults out... we can celebrate it with them anyways, celebrating how they gained freedom from the Mewni empire..." Marco also said lightly. Jackie nodded, and slightly moved closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder, trying to relax.

"Do you think... My mom will be in there?" Marco blushed and felt his heartbeat increase slightly from the movement of a girl resting on him.

"It's... a possibility. The higher ups told me a lot of the teens' parents are in there." Jackie hummed her response, ending the conversation, but keeping her comfortable position on Marco. He assessed the situation a moment before deciding to continue logging what was going on, trying not to disturb the girl on his shoulder too much.

* * *

Once the monorail emerged from the earth, Marco stepped out first then faced his team that was coming out behind him.

"Ok, remember everyone that you have walkie-talkies. If your in a situation you don't know what to do, communicate it and I'll do my best to give you orders on how to handle it. Clear?"

"Sir!" They said in unison. Marco nodded then looked down at the sketching the adult higher-up had shown him at the breakfast table a couple days ago.

"Ok, Cheer squad will go on ahead to scout and find any unguarded openings, from there, radio where it is and Janna and Chantelle will go to you and go inside to place the bombs. Me, Justin, and Jackie will cover you through our rifles. Once the bomb is in place, we'll have 3 minutes according to that other teen who made the bomb. Cheer squad will direct the adults out after the assembly lines are stopped by the outside power box. We'll still be covering you by rifles.

Now, if there is a chance of interference, aka, we're discovered by Mewni soldiers, then that's when Lars teamed with Jackie and Me teamed with Oskar will move in to start working on fighting and re-directing Mewni forces, so you guys can safely get the parents out. When you radio they're all on the monorail, we'll make out way to you guys and make our escape, alright?"

"Right."

"Alright, move out."

They moved to a cliff overhang where they could see the factory below, smoke billowing out the tops and the lights on inside. They crawled on their bellies as not to be discovered by guards. When they got to the edge where they could see the factory, some hid behind rock piercing out the floor and some stayed on the ground.

"Ok, be careful making your descent. Move cheer squad." Marco instructed, waving his hand back and forth. They started making their way down as Marco, Justin and Jackie positioned themselves on the floor with their eyes watching through aiming telescopes that were on the rifles.

Oskar, who was positioned behind a rock next to Marco, began bopping his head to the beat in his mind. He lazily turned his head to Marco.

"Hey, you alright?" Marco gave him a quick, irritated side glance, before focusing back into the lens.

"Fine, why?"

"You just seem more nervous than on a normal mission, that's all." He commented. Marco had a slight start at how Oskar could even know that.

"It's just... a very important mission... and parents are on the line. And we all miss our parents." Marco said.

"Alright. But we've had harder missions. Why so nerve wracked about this one?"

"Erm... hmmm." Marco actually had to think about _why_. Why _was_ he feeling so anxious about this one mission?

"I just... have a bad feeling. I don't want anything to go wrong, I don't want anyone getting hurt, and... well, this is probably the first mission we've had so little information on. We don't know how many guards are inside, on stand-by, nothing." Marco had begun speaking softly, so only Oskar could hear. Oskar nodded understandingly, or... to the music he was listening to in his head.

"Well, no matter what unknown obstacles we have in our way, just know you have nothing to worry about."

"But, what if-"

"You've trained us all, and we are well prepared. And, you have me by your side, we can conquer _100_ Mewnis if we wanted to. And each one of us on your team knows how to work in teamwork and unison with any other person on the team as well, and do the same. We're ready, and you're our fearless leader." Oskar comforted him. Marco let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. He relaxed considerably, and had new confidence in his team he thought couldn't get any higher. Once again, Oskar was his stress reliever. He could only smile from the relief from stress.

"Thank you, Oskar." He mumbled. Oskar just sent him a rock-on sign with his fingers, the pointer finger and pinky up. Marco rolled his eyes while Oskar kept bopping his head. Then Marco's radio came to life.

"Ok, Southeast gate, the rounds just moved off." He heard the nervous voice of Hope from Cheer squad.

"Copy that." Marco replied, then motioned for Janna and Chantelle to move down, each equipped with 3 potatoes bombs in a carrying sac to be place on the inside perimeter. Marco nervously trailed them through the telescope heading around the building then out of sight. He breathed out a breath to calm himself again then brought the walkie to his mouth.

"Alright, Cheer squad, make your way inside and start moving adults out. Janna, located the power box yet?" He waited for either to respond. This was the part he was most worried about, the trail of adults like ants up this exposed cliff. He just hoped the Mewni guards aren't too perceptive.

"Copy." He heard Sabrina's voice reply. Then Janna's.

"It's inside, I'm already on it." Marco became nervous again as he heard through Janna's radio the adults started commotioning with the arrivals of new people. He hoped they'd wise up and stop talking! After a small time later, the people up on the cliff heard the whirring signaling the power to the assembly line's been stopped, and sure enough the plumes of smoke stopped bellowing out.

Marco finally calmed down as he saw the first of the adults start moving out the northwest door, the door closest to them besides the north door. Hope was leading the line, he saw Sabrina holding the door, so he only assumed Andrea was on the inside, filing people out. He allowed a smile as he knew this mission was almost done. Then he heard Jackie sit up slightly.

"Mom!" She exclaimed quietly. Marco smiled as he saw the adult that really did look like an older, more mature version of Jackie being led out in the line.

"Come on, guys. Focus, keep look out." Marco instructed. Jackie blushed, as she scoped into her lens again. She always thought Marco being all commanding was hot, but it was still embarrassing when it was you he called out. Marco assumed more than half the factory had been filed out when the radio came to life, the voices being Janna and Andrea.

"Mewni-!" "Spotted the trail-!" "Compromised!" Then shots were being heard fired inside, and the adults closer to the factory began ducking their heads and lowering their bodies. The adults farther away began to panic and run up the hill, no longer in single file. The guards positioned at the north door visible to Marco ran inside with guns positioned to shoot.

Marco sat up, looking at how panicked everyone was down there. He began relaying instructions.

"Cheer squad! Keep the adults coming out! Lead them to the monorail! Janna, where are we on the bombs?!"

"Two more to place on the north side!"

"Alright! Chantelle, help Cheer squad lead the parents out and get out! We're moving in!" Marco turned to the remaining people on the cliff, just as Hope made it up there with the firsts of the adults. "Let's move out!" They ran down to the factory in the teams Marco instructed and went in through the north door. That was the side they needed to dominate if the bombs were to finish being placed there.

They ran in and shot a couple positioned there and fought closer ones hands on, making easy work. Marco looked on the inside and saw the guard shooting towards the door the adults were trying to make their escape out of so they couldn't leave.

"Justin, Jackie!" He pointed to the doors and the guards shooting at the door. They split up to get the guards and defend the parents. He scanned again, and saw Janna hiding behind an assembly belt further down the east wall. Marco aimed at the Mewni's shooting at her and then she was free to move.

"Do you have both bombs?" He radioed. She replied.

"Yes, Chantelle gave them to me after you instructed her to help the Cheer squad."

"Alright make your way up here. Oskar will cover you while I help the adults outside." She nodded and began moving to them. Before Marco left, Oskar grabbed his arm, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. _You got this._ Marco nodded then ran out the north door.

Man, was it bad.

There were now mini ships flying around in the skies, bringing more Mewni troops. He dodged raining fire and made it behind a rock, where, coincidentally, Jackie was hiding too.

"Marco!" She hugged him. Realizing quickly what she's done, she removed herself quickly and they both blushed.

"Er, where are all these Mewni soldiers coming from?" He asked to break the awkwardness. She pulled out a device and on it, checked the nearest place Mewni's could come from on short notice.

"The closest place, and based on the direction they came from, is the Communication tower, just a little ways further out!" She reported. Marco paused. Was she serious?

"So... The communications tower, it's less guarded?" He asked. Jackie seemed to have realized the same thing.

"If we seize this tower, the Mewni's won't be able to communicate with the home planet or other communication towers, and we'll be able to take back over this area without fear of more Mewni's showing up!" Marco said. Jackie looked at him.

"So what's the plan? What do you wanna do?" Marco looked down in thought. He looked up.

"We can't have them going back, and we can't abandon this mission. I'll go myself, sneak away and take over the tower." Jackie grabbed his hand.

"I'm going with you." She stated, staring into his eyes. How could he say no when she did all that? He hesitated, but then took out his walkie.

"Keep working on those bombs, get those parents to the monorail. I'm stepping out for a while." His eyes flicked over to Jackie. "Jackie's with me." He got up and made his way back up the cliff. They helped a little by shooting down some soldiers on the way. They made it to the monorail, where some parents already were on the platform. Hope was with them.

"Great, we'll use this and send it back your way real soon. Remember to get everyone back home safely." Marco instructed, going inside. Hope nodded, as some parents started shouting their thanks over her shoulder. The two mounted and headed for the communication tower.

* * *

Marco and Jackie got off the monorail and ran out to the nearest rock to hide behind. They scoped out the scene, and indeed saw the tower had few soldiers, maybe one at each entrance.

"Ok, let's do this, we need to take out all the guards or have them surrender the place to us." Marco whispered over to Jackie. They moved to the tower. 1st floors, 2nd floor, 3rd floor, they knocked out each one, and those who surrendered trailed behind them, bound in plasma handcuffs. They were at the door for the 4th floor main communication room. Marco began getting excited. This would be a great advancement for the rebellion, and one step closer to beating the Mewni empire, and getting them off planet Earth!

"Ready?" Marco asked, reloading his hand gun for a full round. Jackie nodded with a knives in hand. They pushed open the door, and two Mewnies were at the controls. They jumped at the sudden intrusion. But seeing who it was, they raised their hands in the air.

"Alright, now we want the keys to this place and-"

"GO, GO, GO!" Marco was suddenly shoved to the ground, and his arms pinned behind him.

"Marco!" He heard Jackie scream.

"Jackie! Run!" He struggled to say past the pain. Soon the room was flooded with Mewni soldiers. Then a particularly buff Mewni, whom Marco could only assume was the captain, walked up to him, and looked down to him, from his uncomfortable position on the floor.

"Well, well, well. Tried to take over while we were venerable, huh?" He said in a mocking voice. "Don't you know we'd never leave something like this up to chance? We were called as back-up guards straight from Mewni planets while the immediate guards went to help." Marco just glared at him the best he could from his position being smushed on the floor.

The guard lowered down to his knee to look better at him. "Not talking, huh?" He reached for his face.

"Don't touch him!" Jackie roared from her retained position behind guards. The captain stopped to look over at her, mildly annoyed. He looked back down at Marco, looking like he was going to do 20 times worse then what he was going to do originally when his eyes lit with realization.

"Huh... you're Marco, aren't you?" He asked. Marco's glare faltered slightly in surprise at how he knew that, or why that would even be important. "You and your little team," He gestured to Jackie. "have been a pain in the Mewni empire's side for quite some time. But..." He smiled deviously. "We also know you're a very important leader in your little rebellion. I bet you know a lot of information. And that most of your little rebel plans would be halted if you were gone."

"What! No! No, he's not, he's super not important, he's just another rebel, following orders like me!" Jackie tried. Marco just had his glare back in face, and wouldn't bother speaking to him. The captain rolled his eyes at Jackie.

"Don't you think we have enough information to know this is in fact Marco Diaz, a leader of the combat team?" He asked. Jackie gasped, seeing they knew this much. He grinned sinisterly. "We'll take this one. He'll have loads, and he'll be a very important prisoner." They hauled him up, and he grunted from the relief.

"No! Marco!" Se struggled against the captors.

"What should we do with this one, boss?"

"Hm... I guess they need some kind of messenger of bad news. We'll find their base soon enough when this one reveals all." He said, sliding a finger under Marco's chin. His glare only deepened. "Let her leave after we make our exit." 3 Mewni guards surrounded the one guard that was holding Marco and the captain walked to the middle of the room where Jackie just noticed a circular window on the roof. Marco began trying to get his hands back, but the guard just twisted Marco's arm further, getting a slight grunt of pain from him and no more struggling.

"No! Marco! No!" Jackie continued to fight against the Mewni guards. Marco didn't really say anything of weakness in front of the captors. So he looked Jackie deep in her eyes, like she did when she told him she was coming with. Jackie stopped struggling just to stare back at him. If this was to be the last time she saw him. A few tears fell before she was sobbing. Marco had to look away then. He hated when girls cried. And this time he couldn't do anything to comfort her. A tractor beam from a big ship above the tower rained down through the hole in the roof where the glass was retracted and they started their ascension.

In case he never saw her again he tried to convey through his eyes.

I love you Jackie. I always have.

* * *

 **Wait, Jeremy was 8?! Why was he at school with Marco, I thought he was just a short- whatever, doesn't matter.**

 **I included those paragraphs in the beginning with Janna and Oskar since I knew them a little better than those other side characters! Its the relationships I think Marco would have developed eventually, and what I think each character would best fit in their crew.**

 **Don't worry about those random names I put in there and in Marco's crew. I just looked up the character list on the wiki (all hail) and used those names. If you want to know how they look like, go see! Just don't angry mob me if I mixed some names up with what they actually do! (Tammy would be the Star Fan girl from that one episode, I named her.)**

 **And there was this one review, it concerned me, because I don't want to step on any hardcore fan's toes, What do you guys say it is? Mewnie? Mewni? Mewny? Does it bother you when I say Mewni? REVIEW! Tell me if you think they're all to OOC and you hate my story! ((D: Please don't...))**

 **Happy 4th of July~**


	4. Star Struck

**Hey, I totally realize I didn't put the chapter name in the last chapter, but I guess that's because I didn't know what its going to be called? But I'm sure I'll figure it out by the end of this authors note.**

 **But besides that, I'm entering college in August, so I don't know how busy I'll be starting from now, so I'm going to update as often as I can for little while just in case I miss my Saturday deadline in the future. That should make you happy right?! Alright, I haven't gotten any reviews yet that said that they perfer Mewni any other way or if it bothers them, so I'll just keep writing it the way I have been. Enjoy!**

 _ **Star Struck**_

* * *

Star skipped down the steps of the servant quarters. It's already been a day into her grounding, this will be a breeze! Yesterday was so much fun, fighting the servants and blasting magic spells, and they just fell over like pins! And all in an enclosed area with no danger, it was easier to make up new spells for the wand. She was excited to do it again today. She _knew_ being grounded wouldn't be all that bad, as long as she wasn't magic grounded.

She reached the bottom of the stairs that led immediately into a dank, dungeon type room with prison bars on either side. There was at least 16 rooms divided in that dungeon place, and all the rooms had monsters cowering in the back of the prison, already having learned to be afraid of when she came down now. These servants were the ones that were either given as royal gifts, peace offerings or prisoners of war, now serving the Butterfly family, and all of different sizes and species.

She slowed down, scanning the large stone room.

"Heeeyy... There's something different about this place... What happened to all the slaves?! Where did everybody go, did they escape?"

"N-no, miss Butterfly, they've been drafted to fight a resistance..." One brave half-horse told her through the bars.

She gasped, "Drafted?! To fight? But... I wanna fight! I'm the princess here, if anyone should go fight a war, its me!" She huffed, and went back up the stairs, everyone in the dungeon letting out a breath of relief.

"Mooom! Mom!" Star yelled around the castle until she found her mother in the dining room.

"Yeesssss... Star?" She asked, seeming tired of her daughters antics.

"Some of the servants have been drafted off to fight. Can I go?" She asked casually.

"No! It is not proper for a princess to get into _fights_. It can be proper for her to give out orders for her soldiers to do, but she must never see an actual fight."

"What! But you don't like my senseless fighting in the woods, this way, I could be fighting for Mewni!"

"No means no, and no is final. Besides, you're grounded." Her mother commented, starting to walk away.

"Ugh!" Star spun on her heel to leave, when her mother stopped her.

"Oh, but before you go... How old are you, 16? We should get you fitted for the next 2 years, then, your WEDDING DRESS!" She practically sang those words Star dreaded. "After that, dinner will be ready, so, you could think of it as Mother-Daughter time." She said, sticking out her arm and motioning her hand for Star to come up under her arm.

"But-! I-! You-! Ugh!" She groaned again, then walked ahead of her mother, not bothering to squish underneath her armpit and walk like they were the biggest turds on Mewni.

* * *

Heh, Marco knew they wouldn't get anything.

Ever since those Mewni Palace guards got Marco off Earth and onto a Mewni detainment base, he's been tortured for answers. They thought he looked weak, but everything they did got nothing out of him. And now he knew just how much the Mewni empire didn't know. they asked him where the base was located, how many there were, who were the other leaders, and if they got any outside help.

They tried water boarding, needles, and uncle, they even threatened to blow up Earth a few times. But Marco just sat there, with a blank look on his face, or a grimace, trying not to give them the satisfaction of a sound of pain. 12 hours. 12 hours straight of questioning or torture methods. But finally they decided he either wasn't going to talk or he really didn't know anything and wasn't as an important leader as they thought. They bagged his head as they drove him somewhere outside of that base with that dark room, and only when they reached the front of the magnificent Mewni Palace did they unbag his head.

"heh, heh, heh, take a good look pal, because this is where you'll be imprisoned for the rest of your life." The main guard mocked him, pulling his hair back so Marco looks up at him. Marco gave a scowl from the pain in his hair, but besides that, remained unresponsive. The guard growled again, and shoved him to the side, not taking the main entrance. He shoved him towards a side door that looked raggedy and old, and once opened, it led down to what looked like a dungeon.

Shove, shove, shove, down the stairs and to a prison cell, and he was shoved down to the floor with two other... Marco didn't know what they were, _beings_ and the main guard glared down at the boy while he rolled over onto his back to look up at him.

"I'll be back for you buddy. When I do, it'll be with something so horrible, you'll have wished you told me everything before now. I'm not done with you." He slammed it shut and left the way they came. Only when he heard the ragged door close, did he allow himself a smile.

He thought of this as a win.

A purple elf that looked young and male popped into Marco's vision.

"Are you ok?" He asked in a sort of gravelly voice. Marco looked up confused at the concern. Aren't these guys Mewnies? Or are they all slaves?

"Don't talk to him. We don't know what he is. Spy, poison, or... stinky." Marco heard a deeper voice say. He turned around, along with the purple elf to look at a large blue troll guy, who was buff, muscles ripping out of his shirt. Marco's mouth opened and closed, not really knowing what to say. He was kinda confused at that moment, and it seemed like everything was happening too fast with no one to explain it to him.

"I'm..." The purple elf continued without regards to the bigger troll's warning, but when he spoke his name, it seemed like a series of clicks and whistles, and maybe... gurgling? "I'm from planet..." He started another round of whistles when Marco stopped him.

"Um, that's alright. I'm Marco." He stated. "Earth." He heard multiple gasps, and saw even some slaves from across the room were listening to the conversation now.

"You mean... the planet that's fighting against Mewni right now!?" Whistle boy asked. 'You're human?"

"Uh, yea?"

"That's amazing! Our planet didn't survive the onslaught Mewni gave us! How'd you do it?"

"Er, well..." He looked around, and saw he had a captive audience, even Blue troll seemed enraptured to hear. "The adults, guess you could say the authority figures on Earth, gave up first, but we kids, um, the humans under 18 years old, didn't want to go down without a fight, so we went underground and fought them in small ways, like destroying bases, or taking over towers..." He told them.

"You're mole people!?" A half mole asked from a couple cells down.

"Uh, no! No, we just very... adaptable?" He gave the best answer.

"wow, so you're like super soldiers." Whistle boy spoke again.

"Sorry I tried to give you such a hard time. I'm Tjrry. It's just that, it's so rough down here, and you never know who's a rat or what's a trap. Even now, a Mewni comes down every day at random times just to torture us, and fight us. Even though that _thing-_ " he spat it out like it was poison. "-knows we can't fight back. And you looked so much like them, it was hard to be trusting." Marco nodded, knowing how the Mewnies could look like normal humans sometimes, but some are just plain weird looking. Like they could've came out a cartoon or something.

"I'll keep an eye out. They might send that torturer to try and get something out of me." Marco resigned to the fact. The rest of the prisoners were talking to themselves, either rumoring what they heard about the war, Earth, or Marco. Marco looked around the cell and saw there were just raggedy blankets to call a bed. He went over and dragged his blanket to a corner, and sat against it, seeking to rest from the restless torture he had received. Just thinking back to it cause him to smile again.

He knew they wouldn't get anything out of him.

* * *

It was 8:00 pm by the time Star finished all her fitting and ate dinner with her parents, with a surprise guest! She'll give anyone two guesses. She was beyond pent up by the time Tom was leaving out the door, trying to kiss Star's hand. She practically ran away from the dinning room, barely remembering to say she's leaving to her parents.

She was skipping down the stairs of the Servant quarters that gradually turned stone and she flicked the switch that magically lit all the torches in the dungeon. She switched hands and pulled a lever down on the opposite wall, and all the cage doors flew open.

"Ok, Come on, come on out, it's time for me to get my _fight on!_ " She occupied herself with flicking imaginary dust off her wand as she waited for the beasts to waddle out the cages.

Marco, who had been dozing off, had been startled awake by the noise and sudden lights. He flew to his fist instinctively and flattened his back against the wall, as he would do if he felt he was about to be under fire if he was back on Earth. He slowly started to get his bearing and remembered he's not on Earth anymore, and decided to survey his surroundings.

Then he saw it. A girl with a wand. She shouted a spell and these rainbow magic things came out, knocking a minotaur over a cloud-looking being who was on all fours behind him. The rest of monsters all lingered around, seeming to wait until they need to get in some sort of comical position to be shot down. Marco stopped pressing himself against the wall, but remained tense as he watched on.

' _Is she some sort of... morbid torturer?'_ Marco thought to himself watching her go. He's never seen someone so happy, so _content_ with hurting others. Sure he's seen others be happy about making others kneel before them, and be evilly happy about hurting others, but she seems like she could hurt these guys, then go off and pet some puppies, not kick them. Was she sick or something?

The Whistle boy walked out the cell, looking back at Marco, like he was trying to communicate something through his eyes, then Tjrry walked past him, and on his way out, he whispered to him, "That's the Mewni." Marco looked back, slightly confused. This girl beat up all these defenseless species, who've already lost when they were forced to be servants to these monsters? Of course, it only made sense. She was a Mewni after all. Marco remained tense against the wall, ready for anything.

Star gave out chortling laugh, that might have been cute on a teenage girl, but Marco knew she was no where near human. Then she swung her head around and met eyes with him. His eyes widened as she focused onto him.

"Hey, who're you? Why aren't you out here like the rest of the servants?" She asked. The monsters all stilled, fearful of what might happen between this war princess and the new servant they considered brave for resisting them. Marco got over his initial shock to give her a glare.

"I'm not your servant. And none of you Mewnies will ever be my master." He growled out. Star looked hurt, like she didn't know anyone could ever be upset with Mewnies. She turned angry, obviously feeling wronged.

"Hey, what did we ever do to you, huh? You should be happy to be serving us! We're great! And we have magic!" She said, hopping over fallen monsters, and to the door of Marco's cell. Marco didn't like the advancement, and moved to the other corner, farther from the door.

"Ha, not like you ever used that magic for good! You guys go around bullying other planets into your slaves. Even all these species here-!"

"What, these guys?! They love playing with me! My mother always told me the servants are here to make me happy, and their purpose is to serve!"

"Are you serious? You think they _like_ being pushed around and injured?"

"Well... yea, I mean, why else would they be here?"

"You captured them?!" Marco couldn't believe it! Who in their right mind would want to be ruled over and have all their freedom stripped and their life drastically changed.

"Nu-uh! They are peace offerings, royal gifts and prisoners... of war..." Star smiled sheepishly at the end, hearing with her own ears. "But come on! Fighting is fun! It's one big game of War! They try their best, but they are not good enough for Mewni." Marco groaned, beyond frustrated. He tried the only other thing he thought could work, it was the thing most humans learned when they were kids.

"How would you feel if someone came to your world and told you that you had to follow their way of life now? And anyone that disobeyed would now be slaves? Servants?" Marco gave her a hard stare, and as Star was listening, she seemed uncomfortable.

"Well... that wouldn't happen, because Mewni has magic-"

"But it did happen! Not on Mewni, but everywhere else Mewni went! And because we didn't have magic, we couldn't fight. And you punished us for not wanting that to happen. You wouldn't want it to happen, why do it, everywhere else? That's called hypocrisy." The monsters had already retreated back into their cages, hoping if Star exploded, they wouldn't be in the war path. "You guys are bullies." Marco condemned. Star looked away, feeling embarrassed. This was so beneath her! Who was this servant to tell her off? In front of other servants? They won't respect her as much! She spun on her heel, not feeling like fighting anymore.

"Rainbow splatter!" She yelled out to the quiet cavern, and spewed the attack into a random cell, venting out anger. She went up the stairs.

"Wow, that was amazing!" Whistler said, coming back to the cell. "No one's ever talked back to the princess before! None of the Butterflies!"

"What? Butterflies?" Marco asked, finally giving himself the permission to relax from his defensive position.

"Oh, the Butterflies are the Royal Family. That was Princess Star Butterfly." Marco nodded taking in the information. he didn't know if he made an enemy or what, but it would probably be best to be more careful with what he says if these monsters are that scared, even if he doesn't listen to their orders.

* * *

That night was so cold, with any outside breeze being able to enter and swirl around the stone hollow room that was the servant quarters. Marco was sort of trained to be able to endure this kind of weather, but that was with more fitting clothes, and all he had on was his ripped up rebellion clothes from when he was kidnapped. He laid on the cold floor, with the only bedding in the cages being shag blankets that were kind of itchy and scratchy.

Marco was having a fitful, but deep sleep when he heard a slight creak somewhere in reality then a weight was pressing on him. Still paranoid, he could help but groan and wonder ' _Is this the torture that guard promised? Being crushed to death?'_

"Wake up. Hey, wake. Up!" He heard a familiar female voice say. He pried his crusted eyes open, and rubbed them with his one free hand, his other one trapped beneath her legs. Wait, what? He finally woke up enough to realize The princess, Star Butterfly, was now sitting on top of his frame, legs straggling him, pinning one arm underneath her. He got over his initial shock and looked around, seeing the purple and blue cellmates having been awake already and seemed scared for either their own life or his, their bodies pressed to the walls. They had no idea why she would be there.

"How dare you, huh?" She reprimended in the dark, having her wand gripped tightly in one hand as if promising punishment. "How can you make me feel bad? And then embarrass me in front of all my servants? They'll never respect me now! What do you have to say? Huh? Huh?" Marco looked up at her, still slightly confused. That's what she was here for? Because of earlier? Not to get revenge but to continue the conversation?

"But they don't respect you." Marco told her plainly. Star looked hurt again.

"Yu-huh! Why else would they listen to what I say?"

"Because they fear you! That's not the same thing as respect," He started, noticing her mouth moving to say something. "It doesn't last very long. The first chance they get, they would sell you out, turn against you, or kick you when your down. But because they don't have that power, they'll listen because they fear for their life. I should know, back on Earth, I was _respected._ I had a team of people that followed me, and I didn't have to threaten them for them to listen to me. And they'd risk their life to do something for me." Marco got sad thinking about it. "We fight against people like you who use fear to control." He said somberly. Star had a sadden look on her face, as she finally climbed off him, and sat next to him.

Marco slightly got up, and flexed the arm that was pinned under her, because it had started to go numb. He half expected her to have an outburst like earlier then storm off, but he was shock when she just sat there, with a sad look on her face, seemingly thinking of something. Marco looked over to the cell mates for help on what to do, if this was normal, but they shook their heads no, hoping that Star would never notice them. He sat there kinda awkwardly. It was rude to just try to go back to sleep while you had company, right? Even if you were captured?

She finally got some life in her eyes, seemingly done thinking of everything and looked up at him.

"Who are you anyways?" She asked, slightly upset.

"I'm... Marco Diaz." He answered. She half bobbed her head, waiting for the rest of the sentence that would never come. He bobbed his head back at her. "The end."

"What? But you said you were highly respected! Aren't you like a pope or something? Or were you lying?" Star asked.

"No, you don't have to be important to be respected. You can be respected by people that know you, friends and family." Star nodded slightly.

"Ok, I get family. What are friends?" She asked, gathering her legs underneath her until she was sitting cross legged beside Marco. He blinked at her out of surprise.

"You don't know what friends are?"

"Well, maybe I do, if you'd describe it!" She said, blushing a little, feeling embarrassed. Marco stuttered, slightly lost for words.

"They're _friends._ They are people you know, hang out with, they know you personally and you... trust them with... secrets and talk to them all the time." Marco tried explaining connotatively. Star blinked.

"So, like, Diplomatic allies?"

"No, these are others like you. They... help you feel better if you're sad, you have good times with them, and you can invite them over and talk about everything and nothing. You can get into fights but you get over it, and just learn more about your friends. You can talk to them when bored and you find out what to do. Like the Mall or the poo-"

"What's a mall?" Star asked. Marco let out an exaggerated sigh. Anything he says could be subjected to questioning, as now he couldn't assume all Earth terms he would say would be known to this Mewni princess.

"Argh, ok. It's on Earth and it's a place people can shop for things and buy stuff like clothes and food."

"How do you buy? What do you buy with? Do you trade animals?" Star leaned slightly closer in curiosity, hanging on every word coming out of Marco's mouth. He smiled slightly awkwardly, as he put his hand on her face and pushed her back.

"Right no, it's something called money..." Marco continued explaining all the things Earth that happened to pop into the conversation and she asked about. The purple and Blue cellmates eventually realized that she probably wouldn't do any harm, and also listened intently on the information on Earth as long as they could stay awake. The sky started turning a light shade of gray, indicating the sun would be rising soon.

"...And the girls play in the water while guys most likely just drool over them or surf."

"And you already told me about surfing. Wow, Earth sounds so interesting! Can I come back tomorrow and ask you about more stuff?" She asked. Marco, holding his head in his arms, nodded sleepily, and mumbled something.

"Yay! Ok, see ya, Marco!" She bounced up and left the cage, swinging the door shut behind her. Marco fell back, sleep over taking him way easier than before and it was easy and deep. But it didn't last long. 3 hours later, a servant that looked way better off came down the stairs with clothes in it's hand. He opened the cell door and woke Marco.

"No, Star, you said tomorrow." He said sleepily, waving a hand at the waker.

"Ah! How rude, it is Princess, or Princess Star to you! And why on Mewni would she _ever_ be down here to see you?" He asked, indignant at the servant dreaming of the princess. Marco, still slightly sleepy, wondered the same thing.

"Here is your uniform that you'll be using from now on." Marco rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and saw it was a servant talking to him. Then, finally registering the words in his sleep deprived mind, he looked down to inspect what he was to wear. It was a dark purple dress shirt with a blue vest over it and silver pants with dark gray shoes. He gave a sleepy disgruntled face at the fruit loop outfit.

"I'm suppose to wear this?" He asked sleepily. It was too colorful. But he guess that was expected of the Mewnies. It was all rainbows and magic with them.

"Yes, and hurry up. All servants need to be up and cleaning before the Butterfly Royal family gets up for breakfast. After you change, come up and see where you'll be stationed to start cleaning." He said, and shoved the clothes at him. He had a feeling that guy didn't really like him. He looked over to see his other cellmates already changing. Marco, feeling self conscious, found a corner and faced it while he changed.

* * *

Star had been woken by a bigger servant that day, as not to be able to be flung across the room. She did it timidly, afraid of the rage that might come out the princess, and she emerged from the burrowing, feeling sleepier and crankier than ever. She glared at the girl through narrowed eyes, and the girl flinched, waiting for the yelling.

Star opened her mouth, full intent on letting her having it, but soon Marco's voice came to mind. ' _How would you feel...?'_ Star closed her mouth and could almost believe that was her, standing in front herself. Cowering behind useless arms hoping not to get hit or blasted, waiting to get scolded for doing her job. She felt bad, but then smiled softly.

"T-thank you." She let out. The girl looked up shock. "For waking me. I would have slept for... many moons if you didn't wake me."

"Y-you... you're welcome." The girl said, wide eyed, shocked. Star felt awkward, and thought it was too weird to be nice.

"Leave now." She said like it was obvious. The girl snapped out of it, and rushed out. Star bit down on her bottom lip. Maybe that change was too drastic? But she just couldn't be mean to her after thinking she was in her position. She jumped out of bed. Walking down to breakfast she realized just how much she's been ignoring the staff around the castle even though they most obviously were there, doing work all around her. She saw one struggling with a basket of Mewni orchid oranges and she swooped down to help steady the basket before it fell.

"You ok?" She asked. He stared at her a moment.

"Yes, thank you, Princess." He commented before going on his way and disappearing through double doors. Also, she stopped and moved a couple flowers into a vase a pixie was fixing, because she looked as though she was having trouble moving such big flowers.

"There, it looks prettier that way!" She commented.

"Thank you Princess!" She said, slightly less shocked then the other servant. "Here take one, this one looks prettiest in your hair!" She said, grabbing a light blue flower that was in similar color to her eyes.

"Wow." Star said, truly touched. "Thank you." She put it in, and she suddenly felt happier than she ever had before. That was niceness she's never seen from a servant before! And... Marco sort of taught her to be nicer. If she wanted any respect any ways. This continued as she helped the servants she saw in small ways, taking the longer way to the breakfast room.

Marco was assigned a random hallway to clean up and it looked like it led to a garden. He was mopping the floor when he heard a group of girl servants passing by and gossiping.

"Yes! The princess said Thank you to me! She didn't yell and she didn't attack! It's so weird, she's so _not_ a morning person. She's normal dragged out of her bed kicking and screaming." Marco didn't know if she was kidding or not, but it was amusing information. To think Mewnies could be so normal?

Star waltzed into the dining room, the flower tucked behind her ear, and she was slightly humming. She almost felt elated! Today was such a good day!

"Good mornin-!" She halted in her sentence. Ugh. Today just _had_ to be burned to a crisp and wither away and die under a table, rotting away? Tom looked over at her, slightly looking more in love than usual. He stood from the table.

"You look lovely today, Star! That flower especially looks great in your hair." A frown replaced Star's smile.

"Yea, yea, it's just because I forgot you were coming." She said, reluctantly sitting down.

"Are you sure it's not because you _knew_ he was coming?" Her mother asked.

"Yea. I'm sure." Star replied. ' _I wish Marco was here._ ' She thought. She should go find him after breakfast! That thought immensely brightened her mood, and breakfast carried on perfectly, with no fights. Tom noticed this and thought it was weird. He knew something suspicious was going on with Star. He'd have to speak to her parents...

After breakfast Star skipped off, Stars practically forming in her eyes. Was this what it was like to have a friend?! Her parents looked after her skeptically.

"Something weird's going on here." Her mother said. "And we need to find out."

Star was skipping around excitedly, almost like she was hopped up on sugar and when she turned down the one hall, and saw the silhouette of Marco with the sun spilling in from the glass double doors behind him, her heart could have burst from excitement.

"Marco~!" She squealed out running down the hall. She jumped him, pinning him down like she did in the cell earlier. He groaned, being hit with so much impact then hitting the floor.

"Ow, Star, what the heck! You can't jump people like that! You'll hurt them!" She scrambled off.

"Oh! Sorry! I got excited, maybe you'll tell me all about it~?" She crooned like it was something tempting for him. He could help but give a small chuckle to the ridiculous offer. He stood up, wiping some presumed dirt off his uniform.

"You want me to tell you more about Earth?" He asked, crossing his arms. Star gave a wide smile and nodded her head excitedly. He shook his head. "I'm not gonna get rid of you without telling you everything about Earth, am I?"

"Not easily~!" She giggled. He rolled his eyes slightly.

"Well, I'm cleaning right now." He commented, picking back up his mop as if to make his point.

"That's ok! Tell me while you work!" She said, skipping around, observing the vases in the halls, and leaning against walls. He sighed while chuckling incredulously.

"Right." He said, and started all about the pain people feel and the common knowledge on how not to hurt each other, with Star listening intently. Her mother watched closely from behind the corner.

"No, Star, Princesses do not fraternize with the lowly servants." She commented on the scene, mostly to herself. Then she moved away from the corner.

* * *

 **Ok, this is it, sorry it came a little late, but I did tell you, it'd be sporadic and the week was busy! And for those who don't know, Fanfiction was slightly bugging out Saturday. But better late than never right?! I said a week or two to update any ways! Thanks for being patient and I hope you liked it.**

 _ **Next Chapter: Fireworks**_


	5. Fireworks

**Thanks for all the reviews, I'm feeling the love, hope you continue to love and review my stories!**

 _ **Fireworks**_

* * *

No. It wasn't true.

He didn't think of her, repeat, he did _not_ think of Star, the Mewni, as a friend.

She just kept bothering him! And when she asked questions like some ignorant child who wanted to learn, and he knew the answer, who was he not to answer? It would, literally, be cruel not to answer her. When she displayed such obvious curiosity for a place called Earth, it was amusing, and even cute in a child innocence kind of way. But He didn't actually _like_ hanging out with her! Besides, as far as the Mewnies were concerned, he was just a servant, and until he excapes this prison, he had no authority to tell her off.

But yet, as Star came bounding down the stairs to the servant quarters, Marco couldn't stop the grin spreading on his face, wondering what crazy thing she might say, or what things she'd want to ask about. She opened the cage, and leaped onto Marco in a hug, rolling with him a bit.

"Star!" He scolded.

"Sorry!" She said. "It's just that Dinner was so boring! I couldn't wait to come down to you!"

"Yea, the same way lunch was so boring, so you just _had_ to knock me down when you found me again?" He asked, skeptically. "Jeez, you're so annoying." He tried to say with a straight face.

"Oh, you don't mean that." She cooed at his direction, prodding him with her wand. He noted it, not for the first time since she's taken to hanging around him.

"You know, I've been telling you alot about Earth, but when are you gonna tell me more about yourself?" Marco asked, setting himself with one arm on his propped leg, and the other supporting him up. "Like that wand for instance."

"Oh, this? This is just my wand that I got when I turned 14. It's passed down in the Royal family and we use it to protect Mewni and blah blah blah, I think Earth is a much better place to talk about! I would love to go there one day." She said, scotting closer, hoping to hear more of Earth.

"Well, it'd be better to go when the Mewnies withdraw, because everything I've been telling you about, it's not there right now. It's being repressed as Mewni's culture have been forced to be followed." Marco said, slightly nostalgic. Star looked down slightly guiltily, but then looked up with new vigor.

"No! Nu-uh, Marco, I've already told you, you're not allowed to try and make me feel guilty! So, what are we going to talk about tonight? More animals? Kids? Food?" She asked. Marco was a taken aback by her scolding, and, without his brain's permission, found it funny. He should be upset that she's upset that she was being made guilty! She should be guilty. But, at the same, time, Marco's starting to believe he really can't blame _every_ Mewni for what happened on Earth. At least he knows Star's innocent of the event, and he _could_ try not to mention it so much around her.

He found himself looking up in thought of what to tell her that might keep her interested. Through the narrow window at the top of the cell, Marco could see some tinkling stars through the bars.

"How about constellations?" He asked her, looking down to meet her gaze.

"Consta-who-now?" She asked with a blank look. He rolled his eyes.

" _Constellations."_ He corrected. "They're the shapes stars make. Like Zodiac and stuff."

Stars eyes sparkled with the words of the unknown that sounded magical. " _Stars_?" She asked, flipping her hair. "Sound interesting. The stars are the lights in the sky, right? They make shapes?" She bounced over to the wall that held the high window, and tipped onto her tiptoes to try to look through the bars. "We can't see well here, let's go Marco!" She said, skipping over to the cage door, swinging it wider for him. He stood up from his position on the floor.

"Um... Where?" He asked.

"Outside, on the lawn, to look up at the -giggle- _Stars!"_ She giggled some more. Marco just couldn't believe her sometimes.

"Did you forget? I can't! I'm prisoner here, and I don't think they'll willingly let a prisoner outside prison walls." He said. The princess twirled her hair slightly around her pointer finger.

"Yeeeeah, and I'm kinda not really allowed to be outside after dark either... or really, if we're keeping track, be _down_ here. But, that's what sneaking around is for! _I_ don't want to get in trouble, _you_ don't want to get in trouble, so we just... stay out of trouble!" She stated. He thought about it.

"Well... I'm not doing anything better." He shrugged. She squealed.

"Ok! Let's go." She swiftly made her exit. Marco turned to say good bye to his cell mates, as he often tries to do when Star whisks him away. They both had a knowing look on their face, exchanging glances with each other. Marco stopped at the door.

"What?" He asked cautiously.

"Oh, nothing." The purple one said, with a face that said 'trying-not-to-laugh'.

"Go on, the princess is waiting." The buff blue one said smugly. Marco couldn't help but think that they were implying something that Marco didn't know, like they had an inside joke.

'Al... right." He moved out to meet up with a restless Star.

* * *

Marco squinted up at the stars.

"I don't see it." He said. He and Star was lying on their backs in the front of the castle, the mint green grass making for a soft material to lay on. He had come out to show the constellations, but the stars were unrecognizable from when he was on Earth. The only thing he could really do was point out the possible north star or what might have been Earth's sun. So now Star was making up what she thought could be star constellations, based on what Marco told her about Zodiac signs and astronomy/astrology.

"Come on, it's right there! See those 3 lined up stars?" She pointed into the seemingly never ending array of stars.

"No, I already told you that." He said. Star pouted.

"You know..." She started, sounding wistful. "We know how to tell time during the day based on where the sun is, or the sun dial when available... but no one's ever really awake at night, so we've never needed a way to tell time at night. But based on what your saying on Earth, the star moves like the sun does during the day! So, if I can chart the stars, we can potentially have a new way to tell time during the night!"

Marco stared at her in awe.

"You would do that?!" he asked.

"Oh, heavens no, I have no idea how to chart stars, nor would I ever have enough interest or attention span to do it all, but maybe I'll... tell someone else to do it." She said. Marco stared at her a moment longer before bursting out laughing. Star started laughing along side with him, not really knowing why, but she liked Marco's laugh, and if he was laughing, she wanted to laugh with him.

She rolled over to her side when they fell in comfortable silence. She was looking into Marco's eyes, and seeing the star's reflection, it made the brown orbs look quite extraordinary.

"Marco?"

"... Yeah?"

"Are we friends?"

Marco turned to look back at Star. That was the golden question, wasn't it? He didn't want to admit he had a friend here on Mewni. Especially a Mewni. His friends back on Earth would freak. Wonder if he's lost his mind. Wow, his friends, he hadn't really thought of them since he's gotten here and met Star. But Star's really not that bad. He could be his friend. Star watched Marco quietly contemplate.

"Don't worry Marco." Star said, getting up. "You don't have to answer. I know how you feel about Mewnies. But you should know you're _my_ friend." Marco propped himself up on his elbows, looking after Star.

"W-where you going?" He asked. She gave a stretch and a yawn as she turned back towards him.

"To bed. Do you know how late it is? I need mah sleep." She gave a departing smile and slipped back inside the castle. _'Huh, even Mewnies get sleepy...'_ Marco thought. The more he got to know Star, the more human Star can really seem.

"Friends...? Yeah, we're friends Star." He said quietly to the nothing around him, laying out to watch the stars a little longer.

* * *

The next day, the fairy was back on duty to wake the princess and she was terrified! What if this time, she tries to drown her? Or worse? The pixie hardened her resolve and peaked open the door and gave a gasp.

Star Butterfly was already out of bed, combing her hair, sitting on the railing of her balcony that looked out over the garden. With the morning sun spilling through, and shining off her golden hair, she finally looked like a story book princess like her mother wanted her to be. She was humming, ' _Like she was happy to be awake!'_ the pixie thought. She's never ever seen the princess wake up early, wake gracefully, or be happy to be up, she was always cranky! Star noticed her.

"Oh! I hope you don't mind, I woke myself! And I felt _so refreshed_ which is strange because I slept late, you know? Today's sooo beautiful, don't you think?" Star kept rambling on, and the pixie thought this might be as bed as her sleeping in. So while she spoke, the pixie led her through her morning, which she happily followed, which ended with the Pixie helping Star put a couple braids in her hair.

"And the stars move?" The pixie asked, as Star retold her of last night.

"Yes! And they're gorgeous to look at. We should make more paintings of them." Star looked out to the garden.

"Oh, jeez, is it that late? Time for breakfast." She got up, pixie and princess side by side to the door. "Bye again, friend!" She chimed, and they went separate ways. She entered the dining room, and of course Tom rose again to welcome her, but Star utterly did not hear a word, she was like on a high. She's never been so happy, and Marco was the reason! She's never really had friends before, didn't even really knew what they were! She didn't know how lonely she was until she met Marco, and it was so much fun to have friends, like having a new toy you can't wait to-

"Star!" Her mother's voice jerked her out of her thoughts. She blinked.

"Yes?" She asked.

"You have been dazing out. Tom asked you a question!" She said. Star looked to the prince, who seemed a little more than miffed at being ignored.

"Anyways, what I asked was that if you would accompany me to a gala back on my planet." He repeated.

"Huh? What- no." Star said like it was obvious. Tom's face retorted into anger.

"What! But you-!"

"Please, Tom. Of course she's going. You asking was just the formal way of informing her of the event." The mother said.

"What! Mom, but I don't want to!"

"It'll be good bonding between you two! Who knows, you two might just fall in love on the dance floor." The mother sing-songed. Star made an outraged face as Tom made a surprised one, and then their faces melded into disgust and suggestiveness respectively.

Tom left eventually and the family was bidding him farewell at the door once again and Star was about to run off when the mother's hand was on her shoulder stopping her from running away.

"Star. I couldn't help but notice yesterday that you were hanging around some servants... have you been going into the servants quarters?" She asked. Star's face blanched from surprise.

"Nooooo, what makes you say that?"

"Star, I know your lying, I just said I saw you talking to a servant yesterday. Star, you should already know it is improper to talk to such lowly creatures! They're lower than commoners!" The mother stated. Star became angry.

"What! You can't say that about Marco! He's really nice and-"

"Marco? Is that the servant's name? Well, now I know who to keep an eye on." the mother said cynically. She gave Star a look from the corner of her eye. "You are not to be seen with him, or any servant. You have plenty to do, you know. You're not even grounded anymore!"

Star's face blanked out. Is that right? She even forgot she was grounded. She would rather spend all day inside with Marco anyway.

"Write in your journal, get more fittings done, practice arching, or riding a horse!" The mother gave her suggestions. Star looked down sadly. There was no way she was going to win this now that her mom knew about it. And she would be monitoring her 24/7 until she's convinced Star's gotten over it. She knows this because that's what her mom did when she found out about her going into the forest to fight monsters.

"I rather ride wild unicorns..." She said, walking away sadly. But she perked up slightly when she turned the corner. She should go find Marco! Not to hang out with him or anything, but she should at least tell him she can't hang out anymore, right? And ask what he's doing, maybe tell him about the dumb gala she's being forced to go to. Yes. Just a final goodbye.

* * *

Marco stood rigidly in front of a mystically carved wooden door almost out of the way of the main hallway. Someone would have to be lost to find this door... or a servant. He'd heard about it again through the travelling gossiping girls. The "slaves" stay down in the cold dungeon they call the lower servants quarters, they are the one's who were apprehended, not there by choice or free-will, prisoners, as Marco knew.

But then there were palace servants, they lived in the higher servants quarters, and they're there by occupation, or because it was they're last chance to join society with a job before being homeless and possibly banished. But the point was they lived in much better conditions than the slaves, bunks in a warm room, meals that consisted of what they could make of the royal's leftovers while the slaves had the servants leftovers, and- the one thing Marco wasn't longing for- a much more rainbow uniform, with pinks, baby blues and greens. Marco could only scoff, of course the Mewnies would do this, it's just like the injustice of medieval times they'd learn about in school.

But he was there for a reason. He opened the room to a wooden room with rows and rows of bunks, kind of like the lower servant room, but where there were cages, it was warm beds, and trunks to hold their belongings. Marco didn't even have any belongings. He went further in and went to the closest bed, and kneeled before it. He took out a ragged stone he picked up from the garden floor and ripped into the fabric that hid the bed springs. He began working to remove a couple. Marco thought that he should feel guilty about sabotaging someone's bed, but they had enough privileges, it's not like they slept on stone slabs, or anything. They'll live with a slightly lopsided bed.

He had just removed a 3rd one when he heard, "What are you doing?" Marco went stiff again and spun around, ready for any attacks on his person. It was the servant that had originally went down to deliver his uniform and portray his disgust of Marco's disrespectful nature. Marco had to suppress an eye roll. Of _course_ this was his bed. He gave a flick of a glance over his shoulder and discovered other servants were making their way inside too. If they wanted to start beating him up, he'd be slightly out numbered, and he hated to say it, but he'd be handicapped, as he's always depended on his friends to watch his back for him, for the stress of the fight would overcome him if he didn't trust as least a little.

Marco decided not to say anything, and the man just stared boredly at him. A few of the girls that had entered the room noticed him and blushed a little.

"It's the new servant! He'd hotter than we heard." They whispered feverishly to each other. The man over heard, and his face flushed slightly in anger.

"I asked you a question, slave!" He made for him, but Marco swiftly stood out of his reach, causing the man to clumsily stumble forward, then moved around him and closer to the door. Marco would have made his escape, if he did spy the bright red fabric that made the tail of this guy's shirt. He pulled it out easily, as it was practically a quilt, and moved for the door.

The girls laughed at the humiliating scene, and he flushed more with anger. "Get back here!" He growled out. Marco just ran out the door but had to teeter on his tiptoes to stop from tumbling over Star, who, as he noticed, had little braids on either side of his face, giving her a more innocent look. She blinked up at him, while he caught his footing, then she looked down to his hands.

"What's that? What's going on?" She asked. The other man had just come out, eyes blazing, when he saw Star. Marco turned around and almost defensively stood in front of Star, giving the man a death glare.

"Pierre, what's going on?" Star asked, slightly tiptoeing to see over Marco's broader and taller frame. She could visibly tell Marco was feeling defensive against this guy. It slightly upset Star that someone would upset Marco like this.

"Oh, princess." He gave a proper bow, and both Star and Marco rolled their eyes. "This boy here have vandalized the palace property and then defaced the servants' uniform!" He said, turning around to show the damage.

"Then ask the seamstress to give you a patch to sew in." Star said like it's obvious. "Stop bothering Marco!" She scolded. the man gave a startled face then stared at the teen who was still glaring at him defensively, but he could see a small hint of a smile that wanted to break loose, and smug and ugly. He growled and stalked away. Star saw Marco was still fidgeting with the servants that were milling around, so she took his hand and brought him to the outside garden table, and sat down with him, where visibly relaxed.

"Marco..."

"I don't trust any of them. Not even as far as I could throw them." He grumbled, finally ranting out in the safe confides of the garden.

"Marco, I'm sorry you feel that way. But I have some bad news." She looked down, playing with a braid. Marco looked at her, giving his full attention.

"My mother says I'm not to interact with the servants. If she finds out, I'll probably be sent away to reform school, or something." Marco looked crestfallen. She was probably the only person he would consider friend here. Sure, he hadn't told her that, but what would he do now? Probably the only other people he'd consider friends are his cellmates. It'd be lonely existence. He turned to the table, pulling up his hands.

"Hey... what is that, anyway?" Star asked, looking at the red fabric and metal springs in Marco's hands. He looked down, remembering he even had them.

"Oh, these are for fireworks..." He said. "Little sparkler ones." He specified. Star's eyes lit up.

"Fireworks?!" She squealed silently. Marco smiled slightly, and nodded.

"Imagine fireflowers that fizzle in the sky." He illustrated. Star looked up, really imagining it. A tear came to her eye.

"It's beautiful, Marco!" She sniffed. He smiled again, and his mouth opened to say something, but then his eyes turned cold, and he glared to something behind her head. Before Star could even ask what's wrong or turn around, he got up from the table, and backed away, as though he didn't trust his back to be left in the open. Star finally turned around, and there was her mother, her face shroud in the shade.

"Oh, mom, I was just telling him we can't hang out!" She quickly tried to cover.

"Now I know what he _looks_ like. I'll make sure to ut him to work so this never happens again." She turned and left, and Star looked down at the table sadly.

* * *

Marco retreated back to the servants quarters, feeling more alone, and aware that he was in a palace full of Mewnies that could kill him if they wanted to just for sport. He entered the cell, and of course the other two weren't there. He sat down, and began to construct his makeshift fireworks with the things he had gathered for that night. He couldn't believe he was here on the fourth of July. He can remember that day he was captured, writing in his journal that it was July 1st.

He thought how it could have gotten this late. July 1st, he was captured, and from night until the next day afternoon, July 2nd, he was tortured. He was transported to the Butterfly's castle and locked up, only to meet Star that same day, and talked to her later that night/ morning, of July 3rd. Than Star talked with him all day yesterday, until the night when they talked abut stars. Now he was here getting ready to lonely celebrate something that he wanted to celebrate with Jackie.

He sighed thinking back to Jackie. He missed her, he really did. And she wanted to celebrate the parent's freedom on this day. Marco got a little angry. He's been here for 3 days, when he should be at home with his actual family celebrating one of America's greatest nationalistic days! His family. Ha, it's funny how he thinks of his team as his family. He hoped he could see them again. Marco was suddenly reminded of the warden's threat/promise of a horrible torture device, and he hoed he could see them again while he was still alive and/or sane.

He finished one sparkler stick, and sadly put it aside. But he smiled lightly as he got a piece of charcoal and drew some black stars on the stick. He smiled a little wider, thinking that Star would really like this one. She seems to really like -heh- stars!

He put everything out of his mind, and just drew more stars on a couple more sticks, and he was happy just being ignorant for a while.

A couple hours later, Star was bored out of her mind and she was roaming around with her journal. She then found Marco sweeping the dirt off the stone path in the garden. She bit her lip to stop an excited, mischievous smile and then sauntered outside to the garden. Marco's eyes trailed her until she sat at the table, a couple of paces away. When she innocently sat down, and opened her journal, Marco assumed she was going to listen to her mother about not interacting with the servants. He began sweeping again.

Soon he had wandered over to the table, unconsciously or subconsciously, and he curiously peaked to what Star was doing. She seemed to be finishing a picture of a connect the dots unicorn. He looked down as thought completely focused on his work, then asked nonchalantly, "What's that you working on?"

"Oh, it's just the constellations I was telling you about. Decided to record my favorite ones in my journal." She replied. He continued sweeping away at a spot already clean so no one would suspect they were talking.

"Oh, you keep a journal? Is that like your diary?"

"Oh, diary, I remember you telling me about that one. Um, I guess. It's where I document my favorite fighting spells and, now, my constellations. Also, little thoughts and doodles, like who my dream prince is, when I vent about my mother, stuff like that."

Marco stopped momentarily when she said fighting spells.

"You fight?" He asked, continuing with the sweeping.

"Oh yea, all the time, in the forest! My mother knows, but she wants me to stop." She said, brushing off some erasing shavings. Marco was concerned, Star putting her life on the line to fight? Well, he couldn't really judge, Jackie and the other girls fought in his team, but Star was all alone out here. What did she fight anyway?

"What do you fight?" He asked.

"Wild monsters." His broom dropped.

"What?!" Star stifled some giggles while shushing him. She looked around and pulled him off back into the castle seeing the work there was done. She shoved him along while he kept voicing his concern.

"Wild monsters?! that's dangerous!" He said.

"I know, but I have magic, and besides its fun to fight!" She said, and she came to a hallway lined up with vases that had a thin veil of dust on them. "Go, clean those." She ordered, pushing him towards a discarded bucket of water and rags. She positioned herself on the window still that looked in from the garden. He grumbily stooped down for it.

"That's no excuse!" He said. "Life is precious, and you should do your best to conserve it-"

"Like you do on Earth?" She asked smugly. He hesitated.

"That's different."

"Is not!" she could have laughed. So they went around like that, with Star going to dinner and coming back, but Star was basically following Marco around at a safe distance, while he did work, and Star positioned herself as though they were in the same room conveniently, or by coincidence. Anyone who saw them more than once or followed them around would know they were talking and conversing, but no one noticed all day. Soon the sun dipped below the horizon, and they were in the dining room, with Marco up on a chair, rubbing down the family portrait, and Star having an irrelevant book opened in front of her while she ate fruit from a bowl, like a midnight snack.

"...And that's mewberty." She concluded a story. Marco grunted as he got a piece of dust slightly out of his reach.

"Sounds a lot like a thing on Earth called puberty." He commented.

"Don't confuse this with your Earth stuff, Diaz. It was a totally mess. Could've destroyed the palace if they didn't clear it of boys." She mentioned, popping a grape in her mouth. "Heads up." She called, pulling another grape off the vine, and throwing it in Marco's direction. He turned on the chair, and eyed the object flying to him. He bent over slightly and caught it in his mouth.

"Too low. A little higher next time." He said, looking back up at the painting and nodded at his work. He registered Star say a 'sorry' as he climbed down.

"I should probably get down to my cell and you to your room." He said.

"Aw, but wait! You said something about fireworks this morning." She pouted.

"right..." He looked down in thought. He looked back over to Star."You came down to the servant's quarters secretly before right? Just come again, and we'll light up." He smirked. Star let out a squeal.

"Ok, see you in the dead of the night!" She said, skipping out of the room. She rounded the corner and almost ran into her mother.

"Oh! I didn't see you mom. Um, whatcha doing here?" She asked.

"I... was just coming to get you." She said suspiciously

"Oh, well, here I am! And I'm going to bed" She said, walking past her mother. The mother studied the back of her head while she walked off as if trying to read her mind, but then decided against it, and was about to follow her on to bed, when she heard footsteps. She turned and saw Marco walking out of the dining room... where... Star just was!

"Oh... I see. Alright, Star, you've made your move, my turn now." She glared at the servant walking away.

* * *

Marco was shaken awake by Star, but he didn't even know he had fallen asleep. He totally mean to stay awake waiting for her.

"Oh, hey you made it." He said sleepily wiping at his eyes.

"Yup. Now, what are the fireworks for? Why today?" she asked.

"Today's the fourth of July. On Earth and in America, that's the day where we gained independence from England, an imperial monarchy at the time. That's when we formally got the name America. And because it was such a big achievement after such a big fight that was called the American Revolution, everyone fired Fireworks and stuff just from happiness knowing they kept their independence. Now a days on the fourth of July, we fire fireworks when its dark enough, have barbeques-" "-which you've told me about-" "-right... and spend time with family and friends." He finished. Star nodded.

"I think if I could pick a day to visit Earth -when it's normal-" She corrected, giving Marco a pointed look. "It'd be on the fourth of July." Marco smiled. "Do you think you could see it in space?" She asked. Marco shrugged.

"I don't think so, but I bet its beautiful in an airplane." Star nodded, trying to remember what that was. Since Marco noticed Star didn't say how he had told her about that, he reminded her.

"Riiiight." She smiled, imagining properly now. Marco took out the 6 sparklers, 3 of which were covered in black stars.

"Here... these are yours. I thought you might like the stars since..." Star giggled, and Marco blushed slightly, feeling embarrassed. He was happy for the darkness.

"Yes, I love them! Now your thinking like a true Mewni." She nudged him with her elbow, and Marco chuckled. "I sure hope not." He replied.

"So how do these work?"

"Well, we need fire to light it. Not a lot, just a spark hot enough to light up this fabric. I was thinking some rocks..." He began searching around the cell, but Star just pulled out her wand.

"Got you covered, Diaz." She said smugly. "Little flame thrower stream!" She said in a whispered voice for emphasis of how small it should be. But it still exploded at first, then died down to a stream.

"WOAH! Star!" He yelled out, alarmed and worried his face would be fried. But she didn't hear him.

"Waoh! Look Marco, look! I'm holding stars!" She gazed at the sparkling fire sticks. Marco smiled again at how innocent Star was being exposed to such a thing, once again reminding him of a child. She dazed off into the light, and he honestly believed she thought she was holding a star. But he wasn't about to tell her other wise. They watch their fireworks as it moved down the stick and then they lite their next one. Tired of rocking on their heels, they laid back against the cell wall, Star's head on Marco's shoulder.

"Happy 4th of July, Marco..." Star said, watching their last stick go down. She got a light snore in response. Star giggled at the cute noise, and blew out their sparklers. She got up and bent down to Marco's face and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good night Marco."

* * *

 **Whew! Hard work! Little long, and a little out of... holiday, but I'm in the same month, you know!? I had this part planned out, long before I knew I was going to fall along the actual 4th of July! Anyway...**

 **Lots of vocab, but come on, a graduate has to use the vocabulary somewhere! Please excuse any typos! Thank you for all the reviews! Now, I know I said sporadically, but forget busy, I'm getting to those chapters with the real meat, and a lot of planning, so I have to move my dead line up to every 2 weeks, (so that's every other Saturday.) Don't worry, If I finish chapters early, I'll update them there and work on the next one! I'm a little confused about my planning, I seemed to have had something else in mind when I wrote it than what is coming out, so here's what should be the next name of the chapter!**

 _ **Next Chapter: Knight of Nights.**_


	6. Knight of Nights

**Thanks for the reviews!**

 **Jasmine lee: I don't speak that language, but I can recognize adorei, so thanks for "adoring" my story.**

 **OMAC001: The foreign enemy's kinda like my finale, so closer to the end of the story, I planned this as a 10 chapter story, so... soon, maybe? I dunno, things change.**

 **And Guest, thanks for reviewing my latest chapter.**

 _ **Knight of Nights**_

* * *

Jackie looked up at the starry sky from where she sat in the grass. There was small reminiscents of a party with streamers in red, white and blue, and cups near a bin for trash littering the grassy area. She sat silently for a while before a figure came and sat next to her.

"You know, it was his idea to celebrate your "independence" from the mewni empire..." She said softly. Jackie's mom put an arm around her shoulder.

"Oh, baby... I know you miss him. And I know all us parents are grateful to him for having saved us, but you can't keep going on depressed about him. If he's anything like you tell me, he's strong and won't sell you out. He can take care of himself, and would want you to do the same thing. For yourself and the team." She said, rocking consolingly with her daughter. Jackie nodded numbly, a tear falling. She wiped it and stood up from the ground. She looked up to the sky with new resolve.

"I believe in you Marco. And we'll be waiting for you to come back, captain." She said, to the void of space. She turned on her heel to head back underground. Her mother smiled after her.

"That's my girl."

* * *

The next day, Star was woken up from her sleep, having gone to bed later because of that little firework show with Marco. She had planned to go see where Marco would be today before breakfast, but now she only had time to get ready and get to breakfast. She bounced into the dining room, in a good mood, until she saw Tom.

' _Ugh, why do I always forget I have breakfast with him?'_ She thought to herself, groaning aloud and sitting across from him. He gave her a questioning look, as if wondering why she seems so upset to see him all of a sudden. But it wasn't. She looks at him the same way every morning. They ate halfway through breakfast, making small talk, and Star fending off ideas for marriage, when a servant came out from the kitchen with a pitcher of juice. Star was working on cutting a particularly tough piece of meat, so she didn't see who it was, but it was the voice she recognized.

"Juice, Miss?" Marco said, strainfully. Star's head snapped up to see Marco in uniform except with a half apron wrapped around the front of his clothing. He was balancing a pitcher of juice on a silver platter, and was glaring down at the sitting queen. She looked over to her mother, and she was smirking over at her, like she won something or got what she wanted. Star realized she was making a horrified face, and quickly fixed it to be more neutral, like she didn't care who that servant was. But everyone at the table already saw her reaction to this. Especially Tom.

"Excuse me, but who is this?" Tom asked, more pointedly to Star, but really expected one of the parents to answer.

"No one!" Star exclaimed, quickly. The mother just gave a triumphant smile in return.

"That's right. Just a slave. He'll be doing errands for your father and me." She said. Star looked up to Marco, who's glare for the mother just darkened, and Star gave a worrying face.

"Why are you so concerned for him, Star?" Tom asked, his voice indicating a temper was about to come out. Star snapped her head back to him. ' _Man, I've got to work on controlling my face emotions'_ She scolded herself.

"I'm... just worried about my mother and father. I know how hard it is to find good work these days, so he might cause them trouble then help." She gave a sheepish smile, and Tom gave her a skeptical look.

The mother eventually sent Marco back to the kitchen, and the breakfast came to a close. They sent Tom off, and Star was the one who whirled on her mother this time.

"What was that? Why was a servant moved from normal duties?" Star asked. Her mother gave her a smile, deciding to amuse her in her act of innocence.

"Well, he didn't exactly have a solid place of work yet. So even though there will be nothing concrete on where he works, there will be one well known fact, that he's doing what us royals ask." She informed. Star's mouth opened and closed, in trying to process what this means, and what to say. Her mother lower her voice to a vicious whisper.

"I told you to stay away from the servants, Star, and especially this one. Now if you can't stay away, I'm going to _keep_ him away, and make him work 3 times harder than anyone else to make sure you two don't even get the chance to meet up. You did this to yourself Star. and to him." She turned and clapped, and star gasped as Marco came out the kitchen slowly in just his uniform again, and his head was down, but Star could see his face red with frustrations and anger to listen to the Mewnies. Star felt the weight of her mother's words as she guiltily watched Marco following her and her father following the two. She could also see how tense Marco was. She hugged herself, wanting to give it to Marco for him to feel more at ease.

* * *

Angrier than ever that her mother would do something like this, she went to the forest to fight, for what seemed like the first time in weeks.

"Hyah!" She yelled out angrily, as she struggled on top of a bucking unicorn. She thrusted her bow that was around the horses head and in his mouth to one side, jerking the horses head one way and it galloped in that direction. Star just rode on top of it, letting the wind blow at her hair, and letting the guilt wash over her. What could she do, really? Why was her mother against her talking to slaves anyways? The unicorn galloped to a stop in front of a stream and it drank from it. Star slid off and bent down by the stream as well.

"Oh... Fighting monsters always makes me feel better, but not this time..." Star said to her rippling reflection. "Why doesn't my mom want me to hang out with Marco? Oh, I know the answer to that, she doesn't want me to be nice to them. But why not?" She thought about it, and could only conclude it's because she though the servants would make her less royal. "Whatever! I'll hang out with whoever I want!" She told herself. She travelled back to the castle.

She went inside and immediately went on the look out for Marco. Her mother said she'd make him work, but he can't do everything all the time. She find when he's free and they'll slip away for some fun. She found him at first by her mother's side holding some of her dressed while she was sporting one herself. He looked bored out of his mind and apprehensive about what was going on. Star hid behind the door, and waved a hand to catch his attention.

He saw but when he saw who it was, he turned his attention back to the queen, with a miffed face. Star gasped slightly. Was he upset? Now she really had to get him to slip away. She followed Marco around and who ever he was with, whether her mother or father. She watched him leap backwards defensively when the queen reached out for one of the dresses in his arms, and saw him hold his arms over his head in defense when her father tried to hand him back his golfing club.

Star felt so bad, maybe it was her fault that Marco had to be surrounded by the one species he trusted the least. She had lagged behind following Marco and her mother one time and was lost in her thoughts when she entered a reading room. Marco was by a table, rubbing it down... with no one else!" Star squealed with joy and ran to him.

"Marco! O my gosh, I thought we'd never..." She trailed off, as for the second time that day, Marco saw her, but then turned away, like he thought of her as the enemy again, rubbing away harder at the table.

"Oh... Marco... I don't blame you if you blame me for having you stuck with my mother and father all day, working so hard, but-"

"What? You think I'm mad at you for something you had no control over?" He asked angrily, suddenly turning towards her, table forgotten. Star blinked in surprise.

"I... I thought...? Then what are you mad about?" She asked. Marco scoffed.

"Of course, the Mewnies are just oblivious to others. This morning Star." He pointed out, like that should have brought on a mountain of realization. She just bit her bottom lip, hoping he doesn't become even angrier when he realizes she still doesn't know what this is about. He gave a groan as he realized.

"I'm nobody, remember? In front of your family and your... boyfriend, I guess-"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Star exclaimed, then winced as she admitted in her head that technically he was a forced boyfriend.

"Whatever! You told them I was nobody. Like, I'm not good enough to be your friend outside of the caverns of the servants quarters. Like, like..." He looked up I thought. "Like a popular person who made friends with a nerd, but won't let the other friends know. Won't even acknowledge it to anyone who would ask. I'm not in for that kind of 'friendship.'" He finished in his quotations. Star crossed her arms, and started tapping her foot.

"Are you done? Seriously?" Marco, leaned back slightly out of apprehension. "You're seriously mad at me for THAT?!" She yelled. "I am NOT afraid to tell _anyone_ about our friendship, I'll yell it from the highest tower if anything! I'm here worried out of my mind about your _sanity_ because you always have to live in fear and be defensive because you'll always be around other Mewnies you don't trust, and you're thinking about a sentence I said in an effort to spare you? Yea, that's right, I said you were nobody, because my mother doesn't want us hanging out, so if she thinks you're no one to me, I would hope she would leave you be in the quarters." Marco looked down back at the table, guiltily drawing small circles on the wood surface.

"Marco, I freakn' love that you're my friend. And that analogy you made up, how could that even be true if I don't even have any other friend but you!" She stated like a quick jab in the chest. Marco's mouth gaped open and closed at the reality of it. Why wouldn't she be happy about her fist friend. Marco felt so stupid.

"Star, I-"

"Forget it, Marco!" Star said, and turned swiftly out of the room.

"Star, wait!" Marco called out, following after her. As Star turned the corner, her mother was coming the same direction. Star gave her a little glare, but just moved to the side to let her pass. The mother raised an eyebrow in suspicion, and it was confirmed when Marco soon followed around the corner.

"Stop, right there, you-" The mother started, reaching out to stop his advances.

"Don't touch me." He said darkly, twisting his shoulder as not to be grabbed by the queen. She pulled back her hand in alarm, as though she just realized there was a wild beast in her house. Marco went on in a slight jog after Star, and he soon caught up.

"Don't bother Marco, I'm not talking to you." She said, sensing him come next to her.

"Ok, then don't talk to me, I'll talk to you. I want to say I'm sorry. You're right, I can't ever be calm in a place like this, this is a planet full of Earth's enemy number one! I can never tell you of everything they did to Earth and the people there, and being surrounded by them... I feel like I'll go insane! If I do something and they decide to attack me, _no one_ will be on my side, everyone will be against me. And I'm used to having people to back me up, to not let me down." Star walked out to the garden and Marco continued behind her.

"Star, you may not know this, but you're the only person I count as on my side. I can't trust anyone else here." She sat down on a bunch, placing her back to Marco. He sat down next to her, talking to her back. "You asked me before if you were my friend. Well, I do consider you my friend. And I'm _really_ sorry." He murmured apologetically. He felt like Star was never going to talk to him again, and he'd be all alone again. Then he saw Star's shoulder raise up, before she sun around and tackled Marco in a hug, knocking them both off the bench.

"Ah! I'm you're friend!" She squealed, uninjured from having ridden Marco down to the ground. He gave a cough, but still had a smile on his face.

"Yea." He croaked out. "Am I still yours?" Star sat up, to look down at him.

"Yes, Marco, how could I say no to the only friend I ever had?" She giggled, and Marco gave a chuckle. Then they heard a throat being cleared. They scrambled to sit up and look over the bench. Star's mother was standing at the entrance of the garden with two buff castle guards.

"Mom, what's going on?" Star asked nervously.

"You're still forbidden to talk to the servants, Star, but seeing as he proved to be more dangerous than civilized, he'll be accompanied by these guards instead." She said. the guards walked forward to them. Marco tensed up again, but Star reached out for his arm, squeezing it, and he relaxed again. He stood and met the guards halfway, walking past them. the guards looked to each other and shrugged, following behind him to keep an eye on him. Star stood up angrily.

"I don't get it mom! Why can't I hang out with the servants? You say it yourself all the time! They're here to please us!" Star said, crossing her arms and stamping her foot.

"Yes, as in serve us in any way we want."

"And the way I want to be served is with company!"

"No, means no!"

"You're contradicting yourself!"

"It's because if you hang out with them too long, you start feeling..." She gave a shudder. " _sympathy."_

"So?"

"You can't rule an Empire with sympathy."

"Why not?"

"Because then you can't be tough when you need to!"

"But if you're tough all the time, there is no 'when you need to'."

"We need to be tough _all_ the time."

"Ugh! You're infuriating!" Star said, and walked past her. "I'll prove I can hang out with who I want and still be a good Queen!" She said, turning back to her mother at the door.

"Then I'll be expecting you to start seriously training to be one." She challenged. "Start 'warming up' to the idea of Tom." Star looked down uncertainly, but then looked up with resolved and left without saying anything.

* * *

Late in the night, Marco walked down the steps to the servants quarters a lot later then the other servants.

"They're probably all asleep by now." He murmured to himself while rubbing his shoulder and rotating his arm. Marco was having hard time being targeted by the queen, and those guards were unnerving to have stand behind him to make sure he wasn't being an unruly servant. He was exhausted and just wanted to sleep, but.. he guess it was worth it. For Star.

Thinking about that again made him wince for the umpteenth time. He felt so sorry and regretful about saying all that stuff to Star. He quietly made his way to his cell, but was shocked into stopping. Star sat in the middle of the floor her legs folded underneath her as she petted Whistle's hair whose head was on her lap. He seemed to be purring with content as she rabbled on about something he was listening to.

"Star, what are you doing here?" Marco asked, stepping into the room. She stopped rambling and looked up, finally noticing he was there.

"Oh! Waiting for you, of course, Diaz!" She said, standing up, abandoning the purplish elf on the floor, who seemed more than upset at his petting time being over but realized he was sleepy and crawled into bed.

"But... you're not suppose to be down here." He said. She rolled her eyes.

"I knew that already, but I don't listen to my mother. And listen..." She said, starting to twist a piece of hair around her finger, "About earlier, we were both pretty tense and upset, but you know I didn't mean to upset you."

"Yea, I didn't mean to upset you either." Marco agreed. Star lite up a bit.

"Yea! But you wanna know what always makes me feel better when I feel a bit upset? It takes my mind off things and helps me take out my frustration!"

"What's that?!" Marco asked, catching her excitement.

"Fighting~ monsters!" She squealed. Marco's smile dropped.

"Fighting monsters!?" Marco screeched. Star jumped to cover his mouth and shush him while giggling at his reaction.

"Shh, yes!" She replied. "You ask sometimes about _my_ life on Mewni, this is your chance to live it~ Besides, if you're really scared for me, you'll come and make sure I don't get hurt."

Marco looked down in thought. "When would I have time to join you?" He asked. "I'm suppose to be working 24/7."

"I'll just excuse you." Star said, with a royal flip of her hair. Marco snicker slightly.

"I thought you weren't suppose to hang out with servants?" He asked.

"Well, I... made a sort of agreement with mother... but.. you know, he doesn't have to know."

"Hee, alright, but what about those Mewni guards?"

"Oh, they love me. It's cool Marco, you'll have a great time. Please come with me?" She asked the question with puppy dog eyes and a pout. Marco tried to hold back a smile as he thought over it.

"Only to make sure-"

"YAAAY! Marco's coming!" Marco jumped and shushed her this time, laughing all the while. Star giggles too, but then hopped past him.

"Ok then, see you tomorrow." She bid before she ran up the stairs. Marco shook his head as he head towards his bed, wondering what exactly he agreed to.

* * *

The next day was a better day for Marco. Star found the three of them pretty early in the morning, and stayed by the whole day. Whenever the guards tried to make him do hard work or something extra, Star would cut in, and jab at them for being mean. And whenever Marco made fun of them, Star just laughed along, and defended him, so the guards were pretty annoyed by the afternoon. The guards were sitting down at a table while Marco scrubbed away at the floor when Star walked up to them.

"Wow, you guys worked pretty hard today. I think you guys should have the rest of the day off."

"Er... but we're suppose to guard the dangerous servant." One said, even though Star could see they wanted the break.

"Come on, he's not dangerous! Just look at him!" She pointed. He looked up on cue, putting on puppy eyes mimicking Star's. The guards obviously wasn't buying anything from him, but then Star cut in.

"Come on, I'll make sure he doesn't do anything dangerous, if he does, I'll take the wrath from my mother." With that the guards agreed feverishly and sprinted out the room. Star turned around to face Marco who was coming off the floor.

"I did it! Let's go." Star said, skipping out of the room.

"Oh, woah, wait for me!" Marco called out, jogging after her. She led him out to the garden and to the back wall by the garden shed holding the tools.

"This is where I change." She told Marco entering to small house.

"Ooooh, then I don't go in there." Marco commented, changing his direction and averting his eyes.

"Yup, but I don't take long." She sid, coming back out by the end of her sentence, she was back in her archer type clothing. She wiggled her eybrows as she finished with "it's like magic."

"Haha, ok, Star." He commented, waving his hands for her to get on with it. She led him up to the wall, and jumped over it, going to the wild side of the fence. Marco followed suit and landed beside her.

"Wait, wild animals are _just outside_ your fence? That seems kinda dangerous."

"Hello, Marco, what do you think the fence is for?" Star giggled. Then she squat down, and spun her wand into her archer bow. "Now this is the part when I get serious! I hunt the monsters, sneak up on them, and attack! Sometimes I tame." She shrugged the last part.

"Er, ok, I'll just... follow you." Marco said hesitantly. "I still don't know if this is completely safe."

"Don't worry! I already told you, I've done this dozens of time before. I won't let you get hurt." She chimed confidently. Marco groaned at the cockiness, but moved on with her, mimicking her prowling stance.

They soon found a creak and a pink bear with a unicorn horn on it's forehead was drinking water. Marco stiffened.

"Uh, Star...?" He whispered. "There's a beast right there!" He faced her only to see her looking around. His face turned to confusion as he asked "What are you looking for?"

"It's just... I've never seen a uni-bear alone before. they usually travel in pacts of 4 to 6! That's why I always try to avoid them." She said, raising a finger up in exclamation. Marco nodded reasonably.

"Mh, mh, alright, so let's go." He got out his crouching position to prowl away when Star continued.

"Buuut, if this one's alone, this would be a totally awesome target to say I defeated! Y'know... one day... to whoever cares." She got a devious look on her face and crept forward.

"Star! No!" He whispered harshly after her, reaching for her arm, but she moved just out of reach. She gave the surroundings one more survey before being convinced it was alone. Marco concerned for Star's safety, followed after her, not watching the bear she targeted but her surroundings. Star spun her wand-bow back into a normal wand.

"Sparkle web lasso!" She shouted twirling her wand, where an extension of sparkly rope came out as a lasso and threw it and it came around the bear's neck. It noticed the danger and stood on it's hind legs and roared at Star, swiping at the rope.

"Ay-yi-yi-yi!" She let out, flipping around the bear and leaping onto it's back, and holding it in a choke hold, using the lasso as reigns.

"Careful! It's claws, watch out for it's claws!" Marco yelled out in panic watching her work. While she was fighting, Marco noticed across the river figures moving in the bushes.

"Uh... S-star?" He called out in warning. The rest of the pack came thrashing across the river to aid its companion. He frantically looked back and forth from Star and the other 4 bears coming straight at her and knew she couldn't handle them all on her own and would need help. He ran forward between Star and the oncoming bears, standing in a defensive position ankle deep in the water.

The first bear reached him and he deftly side stepped the downward slash before roundhouse kicking the monster in the side sending it flying to one side. The one other bear stopped by Marco but the last one avoided Marco to go help the one being attacked by Star. Star jumped off the woozy bear with a smile, still not knowing there was more bears and activated a blast from her wand to knock down the bear-like monster. The last bear began sneaking up on her from behind as Star was still off guard. Marco flipped off the second bear, kicking it in the jaw and landed on the first bear, knocking them both out and turned to look for Star to see the last bear ready to pounce on her.

"Star!" He yelled out. His instincts took in to protect his other teammates when he was back on Earth and he bolted for her. Star heard his cry of warning and turned around, finally seeing the last bear. She gasped as her mind blanked at the proximity of the danger. She grasped her wand to try to sputter any protection spell out, but thought of nothing as the bear extended it's claws for face and chest. Marco then leaped off the ground and collided with Star's profile, knocking them both out the way, but not before Marco got scratched on his leg closest to the monster.

Marco landed on top of Star, and she groaned from the impact, but was snapped out of her death-stupor. She could barely register what happened fast enough before Marco got off her and caught the on coming hands of the uni-bear, locked in a strength fight. Marco used his training of using his enemy's size against them, and went down to one knee quickly, allowing the pushing monster to fly over his shoulder, and Marco quickly followed with a flying downward kick to the bear's neck, briefly cutting off air-circulation, and winding the monster, knocking it out.

Star sat there, looking around at the situation, and how Marco defeated 3 bears while she defeated only the one, and then starry-eyed at Marco as he walked back to her and asked for her hand. The sun just broke out from clouds above to shine through the trees and cascade across Marco's back for a heavenly effect.

"You ok?" He asked with a sigh of relief.

* * *

 **Hey, everyone! So sorry for the wait, and that it's a little shorter than usual but I tell you, my weekend have been super busy, but that's no excuse, since technically it was suppose to be done before the weekend I was suppose to update it! I just got a little lazy from lack of reviews, but then I got motivated by two extra reviews to hurry and finish, so for that I'd like to thank Recon82 (thx about the reviews comment) and Read, a guest who reviewed not to comment on the story but to kick me in the butt and remind me people actually like what I put out. THANKS GUYS!**

 **But I have to tell you, it's only going to get busier as I'm entering college these next few weeks, so my two week deadline is going on stand by, lets just say the next update will be September 12, and hopefully, my schedule will be a lot more cleared up and normal to continue to write for you more frequently! thanks for the love and DON'T FORGET MY STORY!**

 **Review! and thanks again! bai-bai for now!**

 _ **Next Chapter: Knight of Day**_


	7. Knight of Day

**Hey guys, I'm happy to be back and writing more chapters! I like this story and I love all the reviews! Let me reply to some now!**

 **thewookie1: LOL, good word enigma, I actually had to look it up. Sorry it was hard for you to understand and that the beginning was too fast. I probably should have specified that the Earth didn't give in so quickly as Echo Creek did, but they were a small town, what could they do _really?_ And I'm working on making my stories more well written so readers like you could like it more! But I'm happy you like the pairing of the story, I really wanted that cute relationship of Rebel to Princess! ^-^**

 **xboxrica: Thanks! XD that's what I was aiming for!**

 **Recon82: Yes, that's the plan so you guys never have to have a late chapter ever again until the end of the story! Thanks for your support!**

 **Latisha McPeanuts: Yay! And I love your name~ ^-^**

 **OMAC001: I'm so happy the scene came together properly in _other_ people's heads, that means I'm getting a little closer to becoming a master writer! XD**

 **tgvduplex88: My, I don't know what you mean. Star Wars was nowhere in my thoughts when I made this story! And technically (very technically) it's not focused on the Forces of Evil, so while it's a good pun, it wouldn't be accurate to the story! But thanks for reading and reviewing my story anyways!**

 **Grote da Guru: Aw, wow, thanks, I really want to become a better writer, so I won't let the compliment go to my head but thanks for the vote of confidence.**

 **FanfictionForDayz: Wow, I like your name, it really shows how we authors have no life outside of fanfiction! XD /shot. Thanks for the review, that's really inspiring, I really wanted to make something different and not a forced AU, but something that's... believable! Thanks for loving the story, and hope you keep reading and that it keeps going in the direction I plan!**

 **Mysticness24: Oh, alright, but I think... it's too far in the story for a name change XD. But thanks! I liked that pun too, it's why it's the name one of the other chapters, but it's more like, got-struck-by Star-and-is-stuck-with-her, kind of pun for that chapter X).**

 **K, on with the story, hope these replies to reviews aren't annoying, but I just think some people will like their questions answered! Enjoy the story!**

 _ **Knight of Day**_

* * *

After that, Star and Marco had been inseparable (well, more so than usual). Star didn't know what it was, but maybe it was because Marco had been there to protect her in a life or death situation, but she felt drawn and comfortable with him. Marco knew now that he had, technically, fought side by side with Star, he felt comfortably with her, knowing she could fight and it was like being back home with his own team. They shared a bond in that moment, and it seemed now they preferred to stay by each other's reliable side. They returned out to the wild for some nature and a work-out every now and then.

The queen was way more than upset on this. She'd confront Star, but then Star would tell her she's trying to prove to her mother servants don't have to be treated badly to have a good kingdom. She'd shrug her off and Marco, who's following Star, would give her a smug shrug himself. Then they'd spend most of their days hanging with the servants, helping them with work, or just getting to know them. The queen couldn't be angrier.

Now it is the morning 2 weeks after that incident, and Star had woken up for breakfast. A herd of fairies had come in her room to help her get ready.

"And then, he flipped the uni-bear over his shoulder!" Star retold as the fairies trailed down her hair, making mini braids in.

"And then what?!" A fairy with a purple bob asked, sitting on the side of a braid.

"He kicked it in the throat!" Star said savagely, chopping her hand down for effect. All the fairies sighed in a swoon.

"Ah~, I never get tired of that story." A fairy with long wavy pin hair chimed, gathering braided hair in her arms.

"Yeah, Marco's so manly!" A blue haired fairy agreed. They all gathered to the back of her head, and tied up the braids in a mini ponytail while the rest of her hair was left down. Star blushed.

"Guys, don't talk about him like that, he's my best friend. It's embarrassing." She said, as 3 fairies worked to bring over a hand mirror. She looked at her hair.

"Oh wow, guys, I love it. Thanks~!" She said giving them a slight hand hug to all of them.

"Now hurry, or you'll be late for breakfast." One chided, and Star jumped up.

"Right! Thanks guys!" Star said, and headed for the door. She opened it and travelled down the hall where Marco was waiting, leaning against the wall.

"Took you long enough!" He greeted, pushing himself off the wall.

"Sorry, I was telling the fairies about the time when you saved me in the forest." She said, as she started walking down the hall beside Marco.

"Again? Jeez, they can't get enough of that story." He chuckled. Star shrugged.

"I can't either. I, for one, thought you were super cool." She complimented. Marco blushed slightly.

"Whatever, I was only able to do that because you were being so reckless. I saw you know how to hold your own on those other times to the forest. You war princess, you." He said, slightly teasingly.

"Aw, Thanks Marco. At least someone around here believes I can fight." She giggled. They made it to the dining room.

"Ok, I'll see you after breakfast." He said, giving her a slight nudge on the shoulder, and running off down the hall to enter the kitchen through the servants entrance. Star opened the doors with both arms and segued right into a small twirl.

"Good morning family. Tom." She greeted. Tom stood up when he saw it was her, and had a slightly confused face on.

"Good morning, your hair looks lovely." He commented.

"Thanks. The pixies did it." She said, slightly caressing her hair in her hands before sitting down. Tom sat down after her, then after a slight pause, he continued.

"No snide comment this morning?" He asked almost jokingly. It wasn't like he wanted that hostility from Star, but he just wanted to make sure he wasn't dreaming, it was too good to be true.

"Oh, there's no reason to be so angry in the morning. This little breakfast thing will be over soon, so there's no reason it should damper my day!" Star beamed. The queen looked thoroughly upset as to the reason _why_ she was happy in the first place and Tom noticed it.

"I see." He said, cautiously. After breakfast, when it was time to say Farewell to Tom, Star did it distractingly. Tom frowned a little and backtracked closer to the door rather than away.

"Star, may I remind you that the Gala at my planet is 1 week away. From today." He informed. Star rolled her eyes at this but at least he had her attention.

"Oh yeah, I have to go... Um, can I bring someone with me?" She started innocently. Her mother looked appalled at what she was starting to suggest.

"Er..." Tom started, noticing the looks, but continued anyways. "A maiden, or personal servant is welcomed for emergency at the party for you, my princess, if you need touch-ups or if it's that time of the mo-"

"no, it's... it's one of my friends! His name's Marco." Tom froze at that.

 _His name's MARCO._

"... a boy?" He almost squeaked out, before clearing his throat.

"Yes, I-" Then a call came from further inside the castle.

"Hey, Star, I finished cleaning up! Let's go."

"Oh! Coming Marco! Ok, bye, Tom, you can answer that tomorrow! Think it over, k?" She fled off down the hall, with Tom staring after her stunned.

"I _know_ , preposterous, right?" The queen said, while the dad moved on to carry out his own business.

"Queen Butterfly, if I may." He started, almost eerily calm. "I see Star is warming up quite nicely to these breakfasts. And our wedding will be right around the corner soon. This week leading up to the gala... mind if I become your guest?" He asked, turning his head up to face her. The queen put on a wicked smile.

"Why... I'd be delighted."

* * *

"P-Princess Butterfly, if I may?-"

"Quiet! Targets don't talk." She scolded Pierre, the servant who gave Marco a hard time earlier. He now had an apple on his head. "Now, you just pull back, let go, then aim." Star instructed, turning back to Marco, who was brandishing a bow an arrow. He gave a small chuckle.

"Isn't it pull back, _aim_ , then release?"

"Who's the teacher here, Marco?! Because I can just as easily-"

"Ok, ok, sorry." He mock surrendered. He pulled back on the taut string and the servant winced, when there was a call.

"Star! Princess Star, so happy I caught you." Tom said, running over to where they were in a courtyard. Pierre made quick use.

"Er, sir, if I may be excused?" He asked Tom.

"Oh, what? Yea, leave us alone." He said with a wave of his hand. Pierre bolted out of there. Star gasped.

"Hey, we were using him!" She said angrily. But he seemed to ignore her and just coolly looked over at Marco.

"Didn't you hear me?" He started in a condescending voice. "I said for you servants to leave us alone." He gave him a glare that Marco happily returned. Star stepped slightly in between the two, facing Tom.

"Excuse me, you're being rude and presumptuous, you interrupted something I was doing. why are you even still here, Tom? Breakfast is over." Star said, crossing her arms. Tom had a surprised look on his face, but then it melded to a more understanding look.

'S _o she's taking his side?'_ He nodded, expected this. ' _this will make this much more fun.'_ He grinned down at her.

"Didn't you know? I'm moving in with you. You've now grown comfortable to the breakfast, so your mom thought it's time for the next step." Star's jaw dropped while Marco just continued to glare at him from behind her.

"No way! Nu-uh! I'm not living with some boy! And I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you!" She growled. Tom gave an arrogant little chuckle.

"Silly Star-shine, I'm not moving into your room, I'm just staying in your castle. Besides you already live with boys. Like the one that just left, and..." He gave a disgusted look over to Marco. "... This one."

Marco's glare deepened, but he knew better than to try and attack any royal member, Star told him all about how to 'lay low'. He'd only attack if Tom attacked him first. With how hostile he was being, he wouldn't put it past him.

"Well, I still don't want to do this! I'm already going to be living with you when we're married, I sure don't want to start now!" Star said, crossing her arms and turning away. Marco didn't know why he felt bothered at the fact Star would be marrying Tom, and soon. Tom gave another cocky laugh.

"Ah, your mother said you said the same thing about Breakfast. Now look where we are! She said don't worry, you'll object now, but like breakfast, you'll warm up to the idea..." His skin grew a little more red with his heat powers and he took her chin into his hand. "... and me." He added, give her head a little shake. She yanked her head away and backed up a little, and in that space she left, she didn't even know Marco had come around and stepped in front.

"Don't touch her." He let out in a low growl. Tom matched his glare.

"Is that a threat?" He asked in the same dangerous voice. Tom's hair began to waver a little in the process of become a flame. Star soon saw how this would escalate.

"No, Tom, it's not. Listen, Marco actually has... stuff to do, so you'll have to excuse us." She said, putting her hands on Marco's back and veering him off in the opposite direction.

"Then why are you going?!" Tom shouted after her fleeing form.

"I've gotta- you know!... er, show him where it is! K, Bye!" She said back over her shoulder. They soon made it into a corridor in the castle.

"Oh man, this is gonna be a disaster..." She muttered to himself, finally finished with leading Marco away.

"Tell me about it." He said with an upset roll of his eyes.

* * *

Later that night, Tom was walking around, getting acquainted to the layout of the castle. He turned down one hallway that was dimly lite.

"Too Dark." He muttered to himself, and with a flick of his wrist, the torches on the sides of the hall lite up with brighter fire, giving the hallway a well-lite glow. He continued down that hall when a group of buff Mewni soldiers came around the corner and almost knocked Tom over.

"Hey! Watch where you going!" He yelled at them. They seemed finally to give him a good once over, and found out he was prince Tom. They all fell to their knees and bowed before him.

"Prince Tom, we had no idea you were still here at the castle, please excuse us." They asked with their faces facing the ground. Tom allowed a smirk from satisfaction of the prostration.

"Alright, I won't have your heads removed. Now will you tell me what it was you were in such a big rush for that you had to pave your own way?" He asked, sounding bored. At this they raised themselves from the ground and the leader happily replied.

"We have been working hard for weeks to create the most torturing torture method to use on a special slave that we believe has important information on the rebellion on Earth." He said, then allowed himself an evil smile. "This will surely get some information out of him." Tom's interest peaked.

"Oh Really...?" He half murmured to himself. "And who is this slave?"

Back down in the dungeon, Star and Marco sat crossed legged next to each other, and some other slaves that were kept down there were in the cell as well, and they were all chatting it up with the princess.

"Wow~!" A yellow furred half faun crooned to Star. "And the beds are as soft as clouds?" She asked. Star nodded.

"Roses." Star gave her opinion. The half-faun and a couple other servant girls clapped in delight thinking about it. Those who were talking to Marco were mostly boys and some tough girls.

"And just a few push ups a day?" A gruff minotaur asked.

"Yup, keeps you healthy, and it'll slowly build up your muscles without much notice. At least for a while." Marco shrugged. They nodded, taking it in seriously. They laughed with content of each other's company when they heard footsteps coming down the dungeon stairs. They all scattered back to their own cells.

"Aw man, I guess I've got to go to bed now." Star groaned, starting to get up. As she made her way out the door and past Marco, she ruffled his hair. He quickly made to straighten it out.

"Ah! Star, don't touch my hair, I work hard to fix it." He said, although he was only joking.

"Oh, Marco, don't be such a girl." She giggled. She turned to finally make her way out the dungeon when she finally saw who it was that was making their way down the steps. The burly soldiers saw Star as well, and gave a bow.

"Good evening your Majesty." They addressed. "Your Mother will not like it that you are down here with the servants." The leader said. Star had an obvious puzzled look on her face.

"We have an agreement... what's this about?" she asked. She clearly saw, before they even spoke, the leader's eyes dart maliciously behind her, and she turned. Marco was already standing up, having recognized those soldiers from those who tortured him before bringing him to the castle and was being completely defensive and alert to all their movements. And Star could see he was totally afraid of them.

"What are you down here to do?!" She asked with a little more urgency, backing up into Marco's cell, as if to protect him. The leader gave a justified confused face.

"My Lady, this slave here, he was a rebel on Earth, we caught him almost destroying the communication towers we have on Earth-"

"I know what he did. And?"

"Well, we know he's a leader of the Rebels, and we have finally gotten a way to get information out of him." He reported almost smugly.

"And if he doesn't know anything?" Star asked, having backed up enough to make contact with Marco, and she grabbed his hand behind her back. He gladly took the comfort and reassurance.

"He has to. He's a leader!" He said. He then snapped his fingers and pointed to the cell, and the soldiers flanked behind him moved forward to grab Marco. Star felt Marco's grip tighten on her hand, and she looked around, and saw all the slaves were in a similar state, backed in a corner, trying to remain unnoticed, terrified of what these people may do. The Soldiers were now looming ever closer and Star suddenly had a random thought from what Marco said the first time they met.

 _...'We couldn't fight'...'You guys are bullies!'_

"Stop!" She commanded, holding out her hand palm out, and the soldiers stopped their advancement, looking at their princess confused.

"You will not be taking this man anywhere!" She said angrily. The leader stammered for a moment.

"But your majesty, taking him into questioning is the best way to stifle the rebellion! Don't you want Mewni to win!?" She thought a moment before she answered.

"Yes. But there are better ways in doing such. I will tell you what I told my mother. We can rule with kindness! It might even give us that extra edge to win. Now leave! These people are under _my_ protection, and I don't ever want to see you down here bothering these servants." She ordered.

"But, Princes-"

"Ever!" She yelled out. They jumped back slightly at the outburst, and one look at the anger on her face that could rival her mother's, there was no second thought. They filtered out. She looked around as the slaves relaxed out of their corners, and Star just felt so heart broken at the sight. She slowly turned around to finally face Marco, who had a sad little smirk on his face.

"Finally got to you, huh?" He said. Star's bottom lip warbled, and tears gathered at her eyes.

"I'm so sorry!" She whimpered out. Marco's face melded into concern as he took her head and placed it on his shoulder.

"No, no, don't cry!" He begged.

"I had no idea! These people just come get you any time, there's no way to feel safe!... We really are bullies..." She sniffed. Whistler came closer and started patting her back in a soothing manner. She gave him a small smile and sat up, off of Marco.

"I'm gonna make this better, you guys." She said, with new resolve, wiping at the unshed tears. "You guys will get your own servants quarters! No more treating you like slaves." There was a murmur of content that spread through the crowd. Marco smiled at that.

"I'll help you." He said. She smiled back.

The soldiers had finally made their way to the ground floor, and into the castle hallway.

"Where is he?" Tom, who was leaning against the wall next to the dungeon entrance asked coolly. The guards stifled at the question.

"Um... we couldn't... get him." The leader answered. Tom's head shot up, and his glare pieced the leader's gaze.

"And why not?!" He asked, his hair already emitting heat.

"I-it was Princess Star Butterfly! She was down there, apparently with an agreement from her mother a-and she said she was protecting those servants. That we couldn't bother any of them ever again!" He whimpered out. Tom's jaw dropped in thought.

"Star-shine... is protecting him?" He said numbly. He then started chuckling at the absurdity of it all. "That's crazy! Ha, it's almost as if... she like _him_ more than _me!_ " He continued in his laughter, and the soldiers began scooting away from the apparently unstable teen. He then suddenly roared and blasted a fireball at a random soldier.

"Well, she better get it together!" He growled out. "She's marrying me..." He began stalking away from the soldiers caring for the burnt comrade.

* * *

The next week, Star worked on getting another wing of the castle up for those in the dungeon to have better living conditions. It was easy with the use of Magic, and she even personalized some rooms for the monsters that wanted it. Her mother couldn't be more disgruntled, but she also had her plate full with the resistance back on Earth, and she had to deal with that first and foremost. Now it's the day they actually finished it.

"Great job, Star, I'm actually proud of you. I don't think any other Mewni would do this for their servants." Marco said giving her a high five. After hearing his praise, her cheeks tinted pink slightly.

"Well, if I'm going to be queen, I don't want the servants planning on over throwing me. That'd mean bad ruling." Star said. Marco nodded in agreement.

"Well... I think it's a good time to celebrate the finishing of the wing with... Marco's super awesome Nachos!" He said, slightly singing some tune.

"Nachos? What's that?" Star asked. Marco shrugged while walking out the wing, servants settling in waved good bye and shouted their thanks.

"It's Earth food. It'll be better explain once I _serve_ it to you." He digressed. Star nodded, exited.

"I've never tried Earth food before!" She squealed. Marco looked around.

"What time is it...? Ah!" He said finding a wall clock. "The kitchen should be empty! Let's go." He grabbed her hand and ran off to the kitchen.

"Oh wow! That looks great Marco!" Star said, staring at the heaping plate of cheese and tortilla chips.

"Yup. It's a traditional Mexican dish."* He said, as if showing off. He picked a chip up with not as much cheese so it wouldn't make a mess.

"Why don't you try some?" He said, holding it out for her to eat. Star looked from Marco's hand to Marco and blushed slightly before starting to lean down to eat some.

"STAR!" A male voice rang out, interrupting them. Star almost face-palmed herself.

"What is it, Tom?" Star asked. He sauntered into the kitchen and rested his elbows onto the counter.

"So, my Gala is tomorrow night. Excited?" He asked, casually. Star just stared back bored.

"No. I didn't want to go, remember?" Star said, turning back to the plate of Nachos to try to take one.

"But come on, you'll get to dress up! You love dressing up." He said, taking the hand that would have grabbed the chips. Star quickly took her hand back.

"Listen, I already have to go, so I don't see why you're trying to convince me." She said.

"Because I want you to enjoy it too!" Tom snapped getting angry. Marco saw this and quickly went to intervene.

"Hey, maybe she'd like it better if you didn't bother her until this dumb dance." He said, gaining the attention of the hot headed boy. Then Tom's hair really did catch fire.

"It's NOT Dumb!" He snapped, his eyes fire-white. "And I don't want to hear that from you. I don't want to hear anything from you, servant boy!" Star gasped.

"You can't talk to my friend that way! Listen Tom, you're angry again, I think it'd be best for you to find some quiet place to calm down." Star tried to reason. Tom let out a snarky laugh.

"Of course you're taking _his_ side again." He sharply turned to Marco. "We'll see how long this lasts. We'll see when Star's not here to protect you anymore. I'll be the first one there." He growled.

"Is that a threat?" Marco asked, mocking Tom from before.

"A promise." Tom said, then swiftly turned to leave. The two were left in a deafening silence. Marco let out a sigh.

"I still can't believe you're marrying _that_ guy." Star let out a sigh of her own.

"Don't mention it."

Late in the Night, three important figures talk...

"There's another big revolt, and we're thinly poor on soldiers."

"We can't go off sending our own. Let's send more of the slaves. To the front line. They'll be good fodder so the Mewnies behind them can take down the tired Rebels."

"Hmm... Send the slaves, huh? I have someone in mind I want at the very front..."

They move to the new wing that Star had made for the slaves. The door was locked.

"Troublesome..." One muttered.

"Don't worry. I can pick-pocket."

"What?" One asked incredulously.

"What? You think I got this high in power through credential?" A few jingles and the door creaked open. They made they're way down the lines of bed, waking up servants left and right. Then the three figures got to the bed where the boy was already awake and standing on the furthest side of the bed away from the three.

"Of course you're already awake. Nothing can get past you, huh?" The woman voice mocked quietly.

"Who are you?" Marco asked squinting in the dark.

"Queen Moon Butterfly." The Figure said, stepping around the bed. "And your services are required." she said, putting a hand out, grabbing Marco's forearm.

* * *

Star woke up the next day and yawned.

"Oh man, I've got to go to that Gala thing tonight..." Star grumbled, scratching her back with her wand. "Maybe Marco can help me pick out something." Star thought happily to herself. She skipped over to the door and opened it.

"Morning, Star shine!" Star slammed the door. Was that... Tom standing where Marco should be?! Maybe she was just too nervous of being alone with Tom tonight, she's imagining things! Marco's actually out there, and she's being rude. She creaked the door open slightly to peak out there.

"Is something wrong?" Tom asked, cocking his head to one side to look through the crack Star was looking through. She closed the door again and heaved. Then took a calmng breath then opened the door angrily.

"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MARCO?!" Star shouted at him and Tom backed up into the wall with his hands up in defense.

"M-marco? I haven't seen him since I woke up and came here to greet you. I was too excited about tonight, I was hoping we could coordinate our outfits." He said, slightly shyly. Star's face dropped.

"But... Marco's always out here..." She said softly. Tom shrugged.

"Well, they're planning on making an extravagant lunch for our special event of going to a gala together for the first time. Maybe he's helping with that." Tom said flippantly. Star nodded sort of numbly, completely absorbed in thought. Tom frowned slightly, before seeing a fairy flying down the hall. Once in reach, Tom grabbed the fairy, slightly crumpling her wings, and tossed her at Star.

"Here. This servant will help you get ready. Get inside. We'll leave after lunch, it's a bit of a trip back to my Home planet." Tom said. Star quickly snapped out of her thoughts to catch the falling fairy. She gave Tom a slightly disgusted look, before going back inside and slamming the door.

"I should go get ready myself... and see what happened to this Marco character to see if I can keep him away." Tom said, fixing his collar slightly and walking off down the hall.

Inside, Star was helping to fix the fairy's wings.

"And do you know what happened to the s-...slaves?" Star said, hesitantly, using the word for clarification as the servants and slaves were two different things in the castle. But after all she's been through with not only Marco but all the slaves, she was uncomfortable calling them that now. The fairy winced slightly, as she straightened out her wing for Star to fix with magic, but then answered.

"Well, when I woke up and went past the new wing, it was empty! I don't know what they did with all of them at once, and something that's happening in the castle, they'd at least ask some of the servants, just because we're more trained and or trusted for that kind of thing." Star nodded taking in the information. She cast a little spell with her wand and the wings were good as new. The fairy spun up in a little circle to test them out.

"Thank you Princess!" She said, crossing her hands behind her back. "Now let's get you dolled up." It was 12 by the time the fairy and Star finished debating what would look best and what matches what and starting over again. Star's hair was crimped and pulled into a high ponytail, her dress was pink with red trimming and a bow in the back. Her make-up had shades of purple, yellow and pink with face sparkles. They made their way out the room together.

"Thanks for the help! It was really fun." Star giggled.

"Yeah! Especially that one time...!" She giggled at the thought.

"With the glitter...?" Star continued. They both exploded into laughter. "Alright, I'll see you later." Star said, waving off, and heading towards the dining room. With nothing to distract her, she could help her gut twisting with anxiety as to where Marco was.

"Oh, why can't Marco stay out of trouble? He's so high maintenance!" She muttered to herself as she made her way down the stairs. She bursted through the doors and as promised, there was an elegant display of fruit, mini sandwiches and other snack foods, almost as though they were already at the Gala. And Servants were lining the walls. But none of them were slaves. And none of them were Marco.

"Star! Wow, you look beautiful." Tom said, walking up, adoring Star. She stopped his advancement with a rigid arm to the chest.

"Marco's not here." Star said. Tom rolled his eyes.

"No he's not. Listen, I don't know where he is, but we don't have time for that. We need to eat up, and then leave, the Gala will start at 6, and it's about a 2 hour Ride, Star-shine, so we don't have time to go around on a hunt for your servant." Tom said, removing the obstacle that was her arm into his hands.

"Where's my mother?" Star said, seemingly ignoring Tom's plead. She looked around and found her standing by The King and ordering some servants to put food places. Star hurriedly made her way over.

"Mother, where are the servants?" She asked anxiously. The Mother tried to keep her smile off her face, but the corners of her lips twitched upwards.

"Why, Star, they're all in this room. What do you need? Did you forget-"

"The SLAVES!" Star snapped, fed up with her mom's turn around. She thought this was funny, but Star wasn't having it. Now some near-by servants were looking over, and Tom was looking over worriedly. The Queen frowned upset at the behavior.

"Now, Star, you know that is no way to behave just because you are upset. You'll cause a scene, and then the servants will think we don't have it together." Star glared at her in the eyes.

"Where's Marco?" She asked low. The Mother let her eyes drift up to the ceiling in a more dignified manor of rolling her eyes.

"Oh, Earth is so troublesome, with their constant revolts. It would just be so much easier if they just gave up 100%! But, no. This big battle is going on and soldier numbers were dwindling. Seeing at how much we were invested with already, I didn't want to send in Mewni guards again. But I had to provide, so I provided. Those slaves are headed to the front lines in an hour and 30 minutes. They would have gone earlier, but we had to give them some sort of training so they know how to fight, and they _will_ fight if they value their lives, plus we had to wait for supplies so when we send them to battle they can resupply the soldiers that have been stationed there. And we'll win another one for Mewni." The Queen explained. She looked to gauged Star's reaction. Star was looking dumbfounded in her thoughts again.

"The door was locked." She said.

"This is my castle. There is no _locked doors_ for me."

"Why didn't you send the servants?"

"They did not sign up for military, they signed up for servitude."

"The slaves didn't sign up for military!"

"They didn't sign up for ANY of this. So, they do what we want and what we tell them too." The queen smirked. Star spun on her heel.

"Don't think you're going anywhere. This lunch ends in 2 hours, and they're leaving 30 minutes before that, and you are not leaving this room until then. I have servants stationed at the doors just for that purpose." Star's fist clenched then unclenched then made her way over to Tom. He went to put his arm around her shoulders, but she smacked it away.

"Did you know about this?!"

"N-Not until recently..." He admitted, shrugging slightly. Star groaned and went off into a corner.

* * *

Marco panted and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was bittersweetly reminded of both the torture he endured before going to the castle and the hard training days with his team back on Earth to stand a chance against the Mewnies. They've been training the slaves since late last night at 11 up til now, at 12. A solid 13 hours. The only sleep they got was when the officers weren't focusing on them and could drift off in a corner, while it looked like they were taking a breather.

Apparently they were to lead in the front lines in a certain rebellion on Earth, not that Marco wanted to, but they were taking them there whether they liked it or not. And as they will be in Mewni uniforms, as Marco knew from experience, the rebels will knock anyone out in enemy uniform. The only consolation is that Marco knew the Rebel's goal was not a murder rebellion, but just to knock out forces and get advantages. But still, Marco knew they'd get a good beating and it'd definitely hurt for a couple weeks afterwards. Plus being passed out on the battle field.

"Lunge!" An officer shouted. A quiet buzzing behind them reminded him that if they didn't act, they'd get a punishing jolt of electrocution. Marco gripped on the Mewni weapon that was similar to a spear and gritted his teeth, and gave a lunge at an imaginary enemy that closely matched the demonstration they were shown earlier in this "training session." Marco heard a couple gurgled gasps from those that didn't move and thus got electrocuted. He felt bad for the other slaves, for they were too tired to move even if they wanted to. They'd been working for hours and he's sure most of them hadn't ever been through anything like this before. Marco was sort of lucky in that aspect, as he's used to arduous training, going through tough circumstances and upping his endurance in certain situations that are hard to keep going in.

After finishing the move, he looked to his left and right, and realized he had been the only one who actually completed his order to lunge. Of course they were in a rotation, so there were on about 7 of them to make a lunge, but Marco was the only one, while the other 6 were left behind. He heard clapping from ahead of him.

"Very nice. You continually show signs of superior fighting skills and endurance." The officer said, walking up to him with his lieutenant flanking his right side, writing feverishly on a pad. Marco just glared and actually brandished the weapon towards them to keep them from advancing. He was panting and far too tired to voice the command for not coming any closer. The Officer held up his hands with an amused look on his face, but had stopped coming closer as Marco wanted. Marco had way hard resentment towards these people who forced them through this training since late last night, eating in front of them, loudly announcing switch offs with other officers to go sleep.

"Wow, you almost make it hard to give you your title as commanding officer of the front line troops." He chuckled. Marco just narrowed his eyes further. Did he expect him to be happy about that?

"Anyway, all you're training is done! Now rest up, you leave in an hour, after loading the ship with supplies for the troops that are already on Earth." Marco heard the other slaves behind him physically drop down to the ground in exhaustion along with sighs of relief, but Marco kept up his stance as the two were still far too close for comfort. The officer smirked at him. "Good luck out there." He said, before turning away. And lightly he added over his shoulder. "At _ease,_ solider." And a jolt rushed through Marco making him dropped his weapon and crumble to his knees, and his body, begging for rest, blacked out automatically for some well deserved sleep.

* * *

Star's eyes darted to the clock for the umpteenth time that afternoon. ' _An hour has passed, so only 30 more minutes before Marco's shipped off... but if everything goes smoothly, they might even leave earlier... I've got to do this right..."_ Star thought, and just barely registered Tom holding her hand. She looked to where Tom was leading her, which was to the lunch table, and she vaguely remembered they were eating at a table while Tom was talking at her, and they ran out of the food on their plate.

"And then we executed him!" Tom chuckled at the end of his story. He looked to her for a reaction, and she gave a weak smile, but that seemed enough for Tom as he smiled back and launched into another story. "And that reminds me of another story..." Star tuned him out as she did every other story he told. She looked over the buffet off food. They were all dainty and clean, nothing was messy! She picked up hopefuls. Deviled eggs, stuffed tomato, black-eyed morsels, and another drink. Tom who was too busy talking, had a longer time choosing his food while not concentrating.

Star boredly went to take a sip out of her drink when a jolting bump from behind her had her drink jolted out of control and poured into her dress. She would've been upset if she wasn't so happy! She quickly turned her head to see who did it, and she noticed it was the servant she had helped steady his basket of oranges back when she first started being nice to servants. He had a mischievous twinkle in his eye as though he noticed she's been trying to spill something on herself. She bit her bottom lip amused, but feeling bad because...

"What on Mewni?! You incompetent servant, you just made a mess on the princess!" He quickly out on a panicked face.

"Oh, miss I am so sorry!"

"No, it's fine." She started, dabbing at the dress with a napkin.

"Oh please, she's just saying that because she's nice." He stepped up and grabbed the front collar of the seravnt's shirt, and his hair lite aflame. "But I'm not." He growled.

"P-please!" He begged the prince. "Can't she just change!?" That seemed to make Tom angrier.

"CHANGE?! Do you know how long it took her to get dressed in the first place? 4 hours- FRICKN' 4 HOURS! We got to leave in 30 minutes and you her to change? WE DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF TIME!" His hair was at full blast and he was rearing to and this servant flying when Star caught his arm-the part not aflame.

"Tom, please, you're causing a scene." Star said calmly. "Besides, it won't take so long, this morning we had prepared an outfit, but then it didn't match my mood, so we had to restart to find the right... er, anyway, the point is I have another outfit ready. I just have to go and change, ok?" Star said. Tom blushed slightly from embarrassment.

"Right..." He said, putting the servant down who scurried away. "Well, hurry, we've got to go in 20 minutes." He said. Star nodded and turned, only to be blocked by her mother's figure.

"Oh, how nice that you have an emergency that requires you to leave the room, hmm?" The queen mused. Star gave her mother a wary look.

"I don't know how an emergency is 'nice.'" Star said. The queen smiled an eerily calm smile back.

"Right. I forgot. Anyway, to ensure you come back in a timely manner, I'll have two servants go with you. A female to help you dress, and a male, to guard the door."

"Guard the door from what?"

"From... any threats to the evening." The queen said carefully. Star glared at her.

"Fair enough." Star shrugged. she started walking off, and The queen pointed at two servants in the line up and threw her thumbs backwards to signal to follow Star. They did as silently commanded.

* * *

Tom tapped his foot impatiently with a sour look on his face while the Mother who stood next to him also had a vague look of dissatisfaction on her face. They both stood at the end of a hallway flanked by servants in front of the star ship to whisk both Tom and Star away to Tom fiery home planet.

"She's late." He grumbled uncharacteristically under his breath when his flamed hair gave away how he really felt about that statement. The mother now frowned visibly.

"Which is ridiculous. The guard should have dragged her back by now, even if all she was wearing was her undergarments." She turned to speak to another guard while Tom behind her blushed at the thought.

"Go check on what's taking them!" She ordered. He saluted and ran off. He soon came though.

"Majesty! The guards!"

They made their way to Star's room where the male and female servants lay passed out in front of the door. Both The Queen and Tom flushed in anger.

"STAR!"

Star snuck around another corner to where she knew the cargo ships shipped off, and before she entered the hanger, she crossed her fingers hoping the industrial sized ships were still in bay. She looked in and almost squealed. The last few supplied were being transported on, but they were still there. Star scanned her immediate area, she'd knew she'd have to act fast. She spotted a barrel labeled ropes, and she sprung forward, removing the lid and taking out most of the content. She hid the rope behind some other cargo boxes that weren't scheduled to ship that day and she slipped herself inside the barrel, but not before taking the lid with her to sip over the top and pocking out some air holes.

She couldn't even really think properly at that point, she didn't even know why she was doing this. whether it was just a really good excuse to get away from Tom or that she was worried about Marco. She's never really concerned herself with the servants, but that was before she met Marco. She never even knew someone could be this important to her, so important to her she would risk punishment from her Mother. HER Mother. and whatever Tom would do, if he would even still take her, the mess she was. She was jolted out of her thoughts when she felt her barrel being picked up.

"Oooh, I didn't know ropes could be so heavy." She heard the servant mutter. Star looked down and pinched her belly fat.

' _I've got to lose some weight...'_ She thought poking her stomach. She was soon set down roughly and she had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep from yelling out. She heard nervous mutter all around her and then a familiar hissing noise that meant the cargo ship doors were closed, and soon the nervous atmosphere leaked into her barrel and she found herself gripping her chest. She's about to find herself on Earth! And not just on Earth, in the middle of a battlefield! She was always whining to her mother to send her to fight, but she was going in nothing but a princess dress and a wand. She didn't exactly feel pumped up.

Star almost found herself wanting to jump out of her barrel and shouting at everyone to get her off the ship and back onto Mewni. She wasn't ready for this.

"Guys."

Star gasped sharply at the voice, the voice she've wanted to hear since this morning, the voice that she was even on the ship for. Marco. She could hear she was right next to his seat in her barrel. And with the one spoken voice, all the other voice on the ship ceased, decreasing the volume of nervous energy.

"We're on our way to the front lines right now. It must be super scary for some of you, maybe all of you. I'm a little nervous too. I've fought before, but I've always had someone to back me up. Sometimes it was someone stronger than me. There was no need to worry. But why should now be any different? I've seen what all of you could do in training, and I could definitely say you're stronger than me. All you've got to remember is that we're all on the front lines with the same goal. To stay alive."

There was a few scattered laughter.

"Seriously. I've always felt better, more confident- more comfortable going into battle feeling there was no reason I shouldn't come back alive when I've always got someone backing me up. If we all know we're here for one another, why should we have to die for Mewni?!" There was an agreed yell of "yea!"

"I want to know you've got my back!"

"Yea! I got your back, Captain Marco!" Star heard a voice she recognized to be Tjrry's say. Then whistles that was obviously whistle boy, and the ship erupted into oaths and promises to be there for one another and the nervous energy transformed into over confident fighting spirit. Star heard Marco give a sigh of relief underneath all the noise and Star suddenly felt oddly sad and out of place. She leaned over in her barrel to the side she knew Marco was sitting. What was she doing, really? How would Marco react to her being there? Would he report her? Have he even thought of her since this morning? Would she just be a burden? Star sighed. Maybe this was a mistake.

Marco's ears perked at an almost inaudible sigh. He looked left and right, and over the barrel that he was resting his elbow on. _'Star?'_

The Queen ran into the Hanger of the where the ships should be, but the scheduled ships were gone. She growled.

"Get me the cockpit on the radio." She barked out.

...In the Cockpit...

"Ok. It's about time to go to hyper drive. Once we enter it, there's no exiting until we get to our destination. Which is Earth's atmosphere. Ok, newbie?" A pilot with a mustache said to his copilot who was young looking.

"Alright!" He said eagerly, staring off into space excitedly. The pilot pointed to a button.

"Ok, so this is the button the copilot presses when I count down to 1 and say 'hyper drive.' Right?"

"Right." He said, nodding his head stiffly, and hovered his hand over it.

"Alright, ready? In 3... 2..." The cockpit phone rang, and the copilot slammed down on the button.

"Wh-WHAT?! Why'd you do that for?! I didn't- I didn't even count down to one, forget saying 'hyper drive!'"

"I-I panicked! You- you told me to be ready! I had to press it when you said hyper driv-"

"Not right at that moment, you could take a second to- UGH- Hello?" He answered the beeping. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh, ok, alright, one problem."

"HYPERDRIVE!? Grrr..." The Queen groaned as she rubbed her head. "Ok... ok, then just come back after you get out of hyper drive."

"Alright, right after we drop off the troops."

"No. No, not after you drop the troops, straight back. Just turn the ship around and back into hyper drive."

"Alright. The ship will be turned around at Earth... as the soldiers get out."

"NO! No, don't even touch down, don't let the soldiers out, nothing."

"Uggghhhh, but..."

"My goodness, what's wrong with you? This is a direct order from the Queen! It takes like 10 seconds to get into hyper drive and back. Don't open the doors. At all."

"Ok..." The pilot groaned. They hung up, and the pilot took a look at the looming Earth outside the front view window and he groaned again then looked at his co-pilot.

"I mean, we're already here." And he pushed down the controls to start the descent to Earth.

In the back, Marco looked outside the windows at the planet he grew up on. He could almost cry, too bad he wasn't coming back just to be back home. He wasn't even sure what part of Earth he was going to. But he got ready for the unexpected, and unknown to him, a little lady got ready for it too beside him.

* * *

The servants came off the ship, while the stationed soldiers came out the base and helped carry supplies off the ship and into their storage room. Marco pulled at the collar of his white and light blue soldier uniform, which he questioned the practicality of. ' _Well, with magic as their weapons, they don't really need to be practical.'_ He thought grumpily. He was then approached by a large soldier that was initially helping with the loading.

"You the captain?" He asked. Marco faced him, and warily answered in the affirmative.

"Well, this base isn't actually the front lines. If it was, we'd be vulnerable to attacks during this loading session. We need you to move your troops further up the path and to the battle base on the front lines with some supplies. We've already loaded a truck to help with the transportation."

"A truck?" Marco asked, incredulously. "That's not very covert."

"Don't worry, you'll be taking a back path. Nothing out in the open." The mewni turned to walk away, while Marco grumbled.

"That's where they'll be expecting us..." He groaned. He rolled his eyes but moved towards the truck regardless. Marco shout for his troops to gather round and Marco filled them in on their new duties.

"And the truck is right here." He said, patting the pick-up truck with he supplies on the back, including a barrel labelled rope. Inside the barrel, Star was too terrified to try to come out, and didn't know when she should try. There were gruff voices everywhere and none sounded like Marco, and if she came out too early, they'd pull her to the side and call her mother, and she'd never have saved Marco from the front lines. Though, sitting in a barrel, thinking through everything she was doing, the more "grasping-at-straws" this idea seemed to be. And soon, they were moving again, with Star wondering when would be a good time to get out.

The soldiers walked down the path surrounding the truck, with someone driving it, and someone else in the passenger seat with a magic item to capture Rebels in their path. Marco was on the right side of the truck, walking close by where the supplies were. He felt this was the best place, practically equidistance from all other positions around the truck.

Marco didn't really know where he was on Earth, but the foliage around him was beautiful, he got lost in the admiration when a blast landed near the rear of their formation.

"We're under attack!" Marco yelled out, and leaped onto the truck to start handing out supplies like sparkle grenades, Bombastic barriers, and stain steel shields. Star felt her barrel being seriously shaken and she heard the blasts all around her, and she didn't bother trying to quiet her shouts of exclamation. ' _I knew I should've come out when it was quieter!'_ She thought to herself.

Back on Mewni, after the ship was returned, the pilot was fired, and the Queen boarded straight away to get to Earth and get her little Star back! Besides, who would respect a queen who had battle scars? Tom had to go back to his planet because his Gala required his attendance. But he would be back.

Marco helped set up a blockade with the bombastic barriers then went out past the barrier to fight against the rebels. Others followed in pursuit, and they had a throw down. Marco went quickly through foe after foe by using pressure points and knocking them out. The other slaves just fought as not to get injured themselves. And Marco had a bittersweet moment, to know the rebels were doing so well, in his head he multiple times complimented the rebel on such clean execution of a move or good strategic counter but it was him they were fighting against and they weren't holding anything back. But it gave him hope that Earth maybe will win the fight for their independence.

Star heard it before she felt it. A stray blast shocked the truck and threw it and all the supplies off to the side. Star rolled in her barrel before the top came off and she tumbled out the barrel. She threw her head back to get the hair out of her face, and her vision was flooded with a battle scene of magic, upturned dust, and weapons from Mewni. But past all that she saw Marco not too far off from her, fending off someone with a staff.

"Marco!" She shouted happily almost involuntarily from seeing him. Marco, who heard the voice, pushed the person he was currently engaged with off of his person and whipped his head around.

"Star?" He asked. He spotted her shiny blonde hair in the midst of dirty warriors. He broke out in the biggest smile after spotting her, forgetting everything around him. She came for him! He couldn't believe she was here.

"Star!" he yelled back in a happy greeting. His smile fell as she waved enthusiastically back, and a rebel was creeping up behind her. The Queen, who had just arrived in her ship looked down at a battle and immediately saw Star's blonde hair like a sore thumb amidst the battle. And she also saw a Rebel creeping up behind her.

"Star!" She shouted fearfully, her face glued to the glass in concern, knowing her daughter couldn't hear her shout of warning. Marco fell out of his shock to put a real concerned look on his face.

"STAR!" He yelled out and started running to her as fast as he could. He got tunnel-vision running towards Star, almost absent-mindedly dodging the danger of battle, and jumping over fallen people, enemy or friend, he didn't know. Star, hearing the fear in Marco's voice turned to see what he was so freaked about and saw the rebel holding a sharpened stick in his hand, obvious intent to kill.

' _He must recognize her as the royal family!'_ Marco thought, ' _or else he'd never try to kill!'_ He swooped down and picked up a make shift shield that was left abandoned on the floor that was coming across his path.

"MARCO!" Star yelled fearfully, while turning away and covering her head from the on coming danger. The stick came down strikingly fast, but it just stuck against the wooden shield that Marco wielded on his forearm as he covered Star's body from the blow. Star looked up from the lack of pain and once again experienced that surreal feeling looking at Marco from below and seeing him being so brave in protecting her.

The Queen looked down also with a realizing look on her face staring at Marco.

"He... protected her..." She mumbled to herself, peeling her face off the glass. The corner of her lip twitched a smile before she passed out from the suspense.

* * *

* **This is a joke, I totally don't know if Nachos are a Mexican dish, he was saying it jokingly!**

 **So, finally finished it. I would love to tell you that I worked hard on other chapters to have prepared to update for you next Saturday... but I don't. I'm sorry! College takes up a lot more time than I thought. (that's what happens when you underestimate college). But I'm making up for it by giving you this super long chapter that's about 10,000 words (That's two times the normal amount!). Please review thank you for waiting patiently, and now that I'm done underestimating college, I'll hopefully find more time to write and post more often! Just... try not expect one next Saturday.**

 _ **Next Chapter: White Hot Jealousy**_


	8. White Hot Jealousy

**I'm already SUPER sorry about the ridiculously STUPID long break. I have recently fallen in love with a fanfic I was reading and I caught up to her lastest chapter and the last time she updated was 2014, and I now know what I'm doing to you guys and I NEVER want that upon my worst enemy! I'm gonna work so super harder now for you guys so you guys can always have the stories. As mentioned before it won't be weekly, but I'll try my hardest!**

 **Phew, enough ranting, onto the reviews:**

 **Mysticness24: Thanks for loving the story, and for the support! I'll take your word for it, and I'll wait for your review!**

 **Fenriss: Aaaaw, thanks for liking it!**

 **Xboxrica: Wow, thanks for the vote confidence! I worked really hard on what I consider that to be a mid-story finale! Comments like these keep me updating -dodges sink- hey! I'm sorry, but it's true!**

 **thewookie1: Well, as much as that sounds like an awesome chapter plan, I do have this planned ahead, which is why I can't do that. Don't worry, I think it gets better...? Also, that stuff about Russia and the nuke and stuff... that sounds so serious... a story I wouldn't have the attention span or skills to write interestingly enough. SORRY!**

 **Watermalone: WOW! I'm an _inspiration_ for someone?! That's amazing, I never thought I'd have a story like that one day, THANKS! Work hard on being a great writer yourself!**

 **Kassius-Alpha: Wow, it's always great to have new followers/ get added to favs. Reviews are also welcomed and praise is appreciated :)**

 **Rangerman33: Thanks you very much man.**

 **tyrekem576: I'm so very sorry you had to wait so long, and as you can see it's not over. You're actually a reason I'm finding the determination to update now. Reviews that urge me to write again soon (and multiple) is what gives me strength to write for you all! Please enjoy!**

 **Guest/ Hana-Liatris/ MiguelHazard2: 7 months!? Omg, I'm sorry guys, It's been mostly procrastination, and I haven't been inspired since the 1st season ended, but I rewatched a couple to get these out, again apologize, I really do want to try harder to get more chapters out faster!**

 **K sorry if it seems a little... off, it's been a while since I wrote, and I might not remember everything I had planned based on my scribbled notes. Thank you all for your patience!**

 _ **White Hot**_ **_Jealousy_**

* * *

Marco kneed the rebel in the gut and twisted him around, deftly striking pressure points on the back as he numbly fell to the floor. Marco quickly turned around.

"Star! You're ok!" He said, giving her a happy smile again. He gathered her up into a hug. Star hugged back, relieved Marco was so happy to see her, and she had nothing to worry about. She was being silly thinking Marco didn't miss her. She peaked opened one of her eyes and saw their form being rushed at by a another rebel with a sharp weapon.

"Marco!" She yelled out in warning, then pulled out her wand and waved it at his direction, releasing some magic to blast the assailant away.

"Woah! Thanks Star!" He shouted. He looked around at all the fighting. ' _We can't stay here! Not with Star, it's too dangerous!'_ "Retreat!" Marco yelled out and grabbed Star's arm and started running back where they came from. He looked over his shoulder to see if the others were making it, and he saw some of the "lower" ranks were having trouble shaking off the rebels they were fighting. Marco stopped and prodded Star forward.

"Go! Follow them back to the path!" Marco yelled out. Star stopped and ran back to him.

"What about you?!" She asked worriedly.

"I've got to make sure they all make it back! I promised them we wouldn't have to die here!" Marco said, scanning the floor for a weapon and picking up a discarded sharpen stick, obviously used as a makeshift sword. Star's face hardened into a determined one.

"Then I'll help you!" She shouted, coming into position next to him.

"What?! No, Star, you've got to go back! It's _you_ they're after!" He said.

"Then don't let them get me!" She yelled, slightly mischievously, and ran ahead of him, and blasted a rebel away from one of the soilders. Marco groaned, and then ran to Star, just in time to hit away an offending object. Marco then flipped over to a teammate who was pinned against the ground trying to block on coming attacks from the rebel above him, and kicked the offending rebel away, Star came over covering his back as they fought back to back, Marco ordering members back towards the base.

"Star, we gotta go back, we're gonna get surrounded!" He yelled.

"Alright, let's go!" She shouted, ready to turn and run.

"Someone's gotta hold them off!" He said, spin kicking another enemy away.

"What?! No, I'm _not_ leaving you, how many times do I-"

"Star, we don't have time, you-!" His words were cut off as his eyes widened, staring at the descending ship behind them. Marco gave a quick surveillance of the area around them and concluded it was safe enough to book it for the ship.

"Let's go!" He said, grabbing her hand and running forward at full sprint to the ship.

"Woa-woahh!" She stumbled behind him but found her footing and stared at the ship they were heading for. It was definitely Mewni... but she could also see it was one of her mother's ship.

"Ooooh, boy..." She grimaced to herself as a dreading feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. _I think I rather stay out here and fight, it might be safer..._ She thought to herself as the doors opened and descended for them to climb aboard. The ship flew into the air as the door started to close and Marco looked out at the humans throwing sticks and stones up at the escaping ship, and Marco couldn't help but imagine himself down there, in the position, so close to the problem, so close to getting a major leverage in the war, but couldn't do anything except watch it fly away, that hope... the door closed up from the scene and he put his head down.

The Queen ran towards Star with two guards flanking either side of her and Star gasped before putting her hands over her head.

"Don't hurt me! Mom, I'm so-!" She was cut off when The Queen gathered Star into a hug.

"Oh! My baby! Are you hurt?" She asked, pulling away and moving both sides of Star's face to look for busies or scratches.

"Eh? M-mom, I'm fine, I-"

"Hurry! Take her to the medical ward until we get back to Mewni and give her a check up to make sure there's nothing wrong!"

"Mom! I'm fi-ine!" Star warbled as the guards raised her over their heads and trudged off with her. The Queen whirled on Marco and he gave a start. Her eyes softened.

"Thank you..." She said before going off to follow the guards. Marco looked down.

"For what...?" He mumbled to himself.

* * *

The next day, after Star had her check up and there was no sign of anything serious except some minor bruises from rolling around in the barrel, the Queen summoned both Star and Marco to the Throne Room. She stared down at the two of them judgingly with an unreadable expression on her face. Star gulped. This was it. She may have just been super relieved yesterday, but she was going to lay down the hell fire today. There will be no mercy. Maybe she can still run away.

"There was quite a stunt yesterday." She started, interrupting the silence. Both Marco and Star gulped and gave each other a quick glance. "And... it started me on a path of brainstorming..." She said, placing an elegant finger on her chin in mock thought. She looked back down at them with soft smile.

"That Star has no personal bodyguard." Star's mouth hung open, and a quick neurons fired when she quickly connected the dots and bit her lip and clasped her hands together, holding her breath and quite possibly a squeal. "I would like to assign one to her... and I would like you to be that bodyguard." Star let out the squeal and starting bouncing around, holding Marco's shoulder in excitement.

"Yay, yay, yay!" she giggled. The Queen watched amused before going on to speak over her daughter.

"You have shown so much character over the past few days, and definitely proved your worth back on the battle field. I was told by the officers how you had the most endurance and skill and moved on to being the leader. And you protected my precious butterfly. I didn't know if she would make it. You have definitely proven yourself more than just a mere slave. You will be ranked up by two from slave to servant, to knight." She smiled at the end.

"OMG Marco, this is so amazing! Now we can be together all the time, and fighting for practice, I mean, just _you_ ," She said, giving a sly smile to her mother. Her mother gave her a raised knowing eyebrow in response. "And everything will be awesome, this is so exciting, and we're excited, and you're not jumping, why are you not jumping, Marco, are you not excited?" Star asked, finally noticing how he was just staring at the ground, pondering deeply. The Queen also noticed just now and watched him curiously. He looked up at the queen, and seemingly avoided Star's eyes purposely.

"Is it obligatory that I become her knight?" The queen frowned slightly.

"No, you'll need to accept, because there will be an oath you take." He looked back down. And Star gaped at him.

"Marco...! You're not going to say yes?" He looked at her for a second then looked anywhere else.

"I... I don't know... I need more time to think, I'll see you later, ok?" He said, turning around and out. Star gasped and turned back to look up at her mother, as if to see if she planned this or said anything, then ran after him.

"Marco, I don't understand! If you take this, you can be treated like the proper servants instead of like some rebel, and-"

"Well, what about the other slaves? Listen,, it's different being forced here than willingly... selling my self to this planet. To do this, I'm basically saying I'm loyal to Mewni and I turn my back on Earth." The image of the people fighting with those primitive tools as he flew off in the high tech ship flashed in his head again. _Betrayal._ "And I don't think I want to do that. Just... give me some time to think about this..." He said, moving past her, leaving her standing in the hallway outside the throne room.

"But... Marco..." She whined silently.

* * *

An aircraft landed in front of the Mewni's palace. Footsteps echoed in the hallway as they headed towards the main throne room. The doors blew open in a brief explosion and Tom walked up the red runway carpet to the throne.

"O-oh! Prince Tom, I wasn't expecting you..." The Queen said as she and the King stood up in respect. She realized she had forgotten about him with all the commotion with Star and Marco and the rebellion.

"Yes, I bet none of you were expecting me to come back..." He said eerily calm. The queen put a delicate hand up to her chin. He wouldn't break the planets alliance over this, would he? He was still promised Star, the marriage to make the bond between the planet permanent.

"Listen, I apologize for yesterday, and-"

"Don't worry... Your majesty..." He cut off, with an obvious fake but charming smile. "I just have one request."

* * *

Star walked back to her bedroom, crestfallen about what had just happened with Marco. Why would he think becoming a royal guard is betraying his Earth? It's an honor to fight for Mewni... er, well, he doesn't even need to fight for Mewni, he'd be by her side the whole time. More protected, and they could spend more time together. Proper time, not sneaking around her mother's watch. He-

Her thoughts were halted as she saw a figure ahead of her in the hall, and they ran cold and forgotten at the sight of Tom. He pushed himself off the wall he was previously leaning on and faced Star with a deceivingly charming smile.

"Hello Star."

"T-tom! Er, what are you doing here?" Star asked, taking a step back. It definitely wasn't breakfast time, and he only asked to stay in the castle up until the Gala. He chuckled lightly. Geez, Star knew he was mad if he wasn't blowing up. Calculated fury was not good.

"Star shine, do you know how EMBARRASSING-" His hair flared up as he stepped towards Star, who held up her wand defensivly towards him instinctively. "-it is, to show up at your own Gala, one you've planned for _months_... without your date?" His eyes flicked down to Star's hand and seemed just to notice the outstretched wand. His hair died down to it's normal subdued style and came forward waving his hands in a diffusing style.

"No, nonono, none of that." He said, reaching out to lower the wand, but Star just retracted it with a firm glare. He swallowed a sigh. "It's fine, it's taken care of. I've talked to your mother on this. There is obviously something not clicking, you know, between us? It might help you like me better if we spent more time together." He told her, leaning one arm on the wall like a cheesy flirt. Star's eyes widened a bit.

"You don't mean-?"

"But I do! I'll be living here. From now on. Until we get married and then I'll be taking you to my planet."

"What? But I'm suppose to be Queen of Mewni!"

"Yes, and you will, we'll just spend our honeymoon there and a few years until your parents retire." He said, slightly smugly that she was upset over the arrangement. He was still upset she stood him up. Right before they were to leave. Star scoffed, and turned to leave.

"I can't believe this!"

"Wait, Star!" He called out. She turned to him. He got her hand and leaned down to kiss it. "I look forward to getting to know you..." She huffed, ripping her arm away from Tom before he can plant a kiss and shouted indignantly, walking away. He gave another charming smile after her. "I'm looking very forward."

* * *

Marco retreated to the new slaves quarter and sat on his bed at the far end of the room. He sat down to think through all that had happened that morning. He threw his head back to lie on his back. He grunted and rolled onto his stomach. He pushed himself up. He just couldn't keep still, cooped up... he needed to get moving and think about this better in a more open space. He got off the bed and started heading back to the entrance of the room. What he didn't know was someone was watching him as he was in the room.

He walked through the halls until he reached the breezeway that led to the gardens, not noticing he was being followed. He entered in until the foliage covered the sidewalk then sat at the nearest bench. He really should be thinking this through, but he felt mostly like pouting and hoping his mood swing would be reason enough for the queen to rescind the offer. He felt a presence looming over and he jerked to attention, nearly jumping off the bench, and scaring the other party.

"Sorry!" The tiny fairy chirped, holding her arms up in defense. He let out a stressed sigh, and leaned back onto the bench. She cautiously fluttered over for Marco's sake. "I couldn't help but notice something was bothering you, Marco..."

Marco sighed.

"Yea... Star's mother wants to make me a personal knight to Star..."

"Wow, Marco's that's great!" She cheered. "Only the best of the best gets promoted to knighthood! Hundreds of soldiers or brave young men vie for a spot every year an-" Marco held up his hands to stop her.

"And these men are... what race?" He asked almost tiredly.

"Well..." She said, wringing her fingers together. "They're native to Mewni."

"Exactly, they are... signing up to fight for _their_ planet, they are seeking glory in the eyes of the royal family, they... are proud to be a Mewni!" He groaned, rubbing at his face. "I am _not_ , a Mewni, before these past couple of months, I was actively fighting them, they were- are the enemy! I should be..." Marco's eyebrows slightly crawled up as he remembered seeing his fellow earthlings in primitive combat. _Unfair._ "I should be down there fighting the enemy."

The fairy sighed slightly, lowering herself to perch on the arm of the bench. "Oh, Marco... you feel guilty that you're not at war or fighting when those you left behind still are?" She asked. Marco caught a tone in her voice he didn't like.

"And maybe _dying!_ " He stood up and started marching off further into the garden to get away from her. She quickly flutted after him.

"Marco-!"

"We, as a unit, never killed anyone," Marco continued, since she bothered to follow him. "That would lower us to their level, validate any reason for their persecution. Killing wouldn't get us anywhere, but they wouldn't think twice to. The training they put us through taught me that much." He muttered darkly. The fairy flew in front of Marco to stop his movements, and effectively, he stopped.

"Marco, you are getting off topic." She slightly panted. "Your problem is joining the Mewni Knights."

"They're the same thing with the same problem: Mewni!" He said, exaggerated with his arms thrown up.

"Marco, I remember when you first came, dragged into the dungeons like the rest of us... But I have never seen as much fight in anyone's eyes as I saw in yours when you were here. You're spirit was not broken, and it was even more amazing to all of us when you told us the amazing stories of Earth fighting back against Mewni something most of the prisoners' planets couldn't do. Now, if the people you were fighting with were anything like you, they are still fighting and their spirits won't be broken."

"But... even if that's true, I don't want to add to their troubles by fighting against them with Mewni! And if I join, that's basically surrendering myself to this place. Selling my soul."

"No, Marco, what were you asked to do?"

"To become the personal knight of Star..." He said, slightly confused as to why she would ask.

"That doesn't require you to fight your friends down on Earth!" She said, trying to cheer him up. "Listen, none of us who were brought here unwillingly would want to fight for Mewni willingly. But, isn't star your friend? Don't you want to protect her? That's all they're asking you to do." She gave a small smile while he thought over her words.

"Wow... I guess that's true... You're really good at consoling people..."

"Nooo~ Come on. Besides, I owe you. To hear and see of your determination led me to want to improve. Back on my planet, fairies weren't to do anything arduous, that was for the pixies and sprites. But I think I want to do more than that. I'm gonna learn to fight!" Marco nodded with a small smile.

"Good for you. Thank you- oh! Oh my gosh, I have to tell Star! She'll be so happy, I'll see you later!" Marco cheered and jogged off looking for her. The fairy put a hand to her cheek with a smile.

"Oh, they grow up so fast." She muttered.

* * *

Marco briskly walked through the halls, keeping a keen look out for Star. Man, he felt so stupid, he shouldn't have done that to her earlier, she must've been so bummed. He'd have to apologize to her and take her out fighting for like... however long she wants, anything to get her to forgive-

He slowed down to almost a stop when a figure turned a corner, the power off of him lighting up the immediate area around him. Tom looked up from his mage book and a sinister, calculating look came over his face as he closed the book and continued forward with his hands behind his back. Marco hardened his look and continued forward with a focused look to ignore him. As Marco neared to pass him by, Tom slowed and began turning his body, following Marco's movements.

"My, my, is it isn't the slave boy," He said, hovering over Marco as he followed him down the hall. "Princess Star isn't around to protect you this time, now is she?" He said in a lowering threatening voice. Marco just continued forwards to ignore him. Tom's face contorted into anger and he grabbed one of Marco's arm, turning and shoving him, his back to the wall.

" _Don't_ ignore me!" He growled, his hair aflame and eyes glowing white. "I _promised_ you, when Star's not here for you, I'll be the first one there to take advantage of your disadvantage." Marco looked slightly shocked, still reeling in his breath from the air knocked out of him. He had no idea Tom would just explode like that for no reason, and while Star did advise him not to attack royal members, he wasn't above self defense. Tom reeled back a flaming fist and Marco ducked underneath Tom's arm, rolling away from the wall that burst into the flames Tom set to them. At the same time, Star turned the corner and almost tripped over a roly poly Marco. He whirled around and was doused in the midst of his anger when he saw Star who had just looked up at him. She gasped.

"Tom, what are you doing!?" She breathed as Marco got up in the safe vicinity of behind her. Tom looked concerned and a lost for words before growling and turning away.

"She can't protect you forever!" He barked over his shoulder, the wall's flames quickly dying out. Star, still lost, turned to Marco, who has dusting himself off and gave him a confused face. He held back a smile as best he could.

"You got me. I was just minding my own business, on my way to tell you I'll do the knighthood when-"

"WHAT?! _Marco!_ " She squealed, jumping into his arms in a hug, Marco finally letting the smile loose onto his face, letting her momentum spin them in a circle. "Oh my stars, what made you change your mind?"

"Well, I'm only doing it for you. You knucklehead, you'll get yourself killed without someone like me stickin' around." He said, ruffling her hair a bit. She giggled, quickly moving her head out of reach distant and fixed her hair and tiara about it, looking up to Marco through her bangs.

"What's a knucklehead?" She said as her laughter died out. Marco rolled his eyes.

"Never mind."

Marco went to the throne room the following day to tell the queen of his decision. "But understand, I don't want any responsibilities to do with Mewni. I only want to be responsible for Star. I'm only doing it for her."

The queen nodded reflectively.

"That is realistic... you would be her protector and I don't want you boggled down with other things when something happening to Star. Alright, so you will begin your training tomorrow morning. The whole process will take a week."

"A week?!" Star cried out in protest.

"The least." The queen said in a tone that said in a no-negotiation tone.

"It's alright Star, I'll finish soon, then we'll be together like you wanted." Marco said, turning to face her, and gave her a reassuring smile. She smiled back and nodded.

"Alright." He said, turning back to the queen. "I accept." She stood up from the throne.

"I will dub you a knight at the end of your training. Good luck."she

* * *

Star rolled around her bed, bored, and let out a groan when she reached the end of the bed. She was so bored without Marco. What did she ever do before Marco? She sat up and looked at the sundial clock that read 3:00 pm. So 3 days without Marco and she was already going crazy with boredom. What will she do now? She looked around the slightly messy room and wondered if she could make a clothes pile and lose herself in it. Or maybe a pile of comforters sheets! Yea!

She finally felt excited about something after hours of inactivity. She started piling the covers she found all around her room, some in the closet, at the end of her bed and a few underneath her bed. She soon had a big billowy pile and she hopped on to her bed and let out a squeal before stage diving into the sheets. She wiggled and wormed and fought her way to the bottom. She looked around and happily reported she couldn't tell where out was and she started on a random direction to get out. After a few long seconds, Star started feeling claustrophobic and a few seconds later, she started to panic she'd never find a way out.

"Oh! Oh no! This was a bad, horrible idea! Ah! I'm dying! I'm running out of air! Help! Help!" She called out, pushing her face against a sheet, rolling the ball of covers along. "Aaaaah!" She popped her head out an opening and gasped unnecessarily for air, only to be met with the sound of chuckling.

"Star?" She whipped her hair in the direction of the door, Marco leaning on the door frame, looking over curiously, looked a bit dirty with ruffled hair, rolled up sleeves and an even tan that coated him a shade darker.

"MARCO!" She cheered, completely popping out and running over, before stopping short of him, blushing. "Er... how much of that... did you see?" He freely laughed.

"I think all of it? When you were poking around and before you started shouting out you were dying." He said, his laughter dying down.

"Oh my mewni, that is so embarrassing..." She said, her face in her hands. She broke out soon with a wide smile. "But goodness you're back, what happened?!" She said, reaching out to hug him and when Marco raised his arms to hug back, she reeled backwards with a hand to her nose. " _What happened?!_ " Marco gave her a small smirk.

"That, good miss, is the smell of superiority. According to the head knight, I was the fastest record to finish my knight training." He commented with a puffed chest.

"Oh, goodness that's so great! Oh, geez, you're so cool!" She said, clapping her hands together. "Go wash it off." She said pointing to her bathroom.

"What? No, this is my hard work!" He said with a deflated look.

"I don't like it." She said, trotting behind him and pushing him towards her bath. He groaned and continued forward without her, grumbling something about a pushy princess. She smiled and looked over at the sheets.

"Someone should clean that."

* * *

Marco was dubbed a knight with a brand spanking new white uniform, golden shoulder pads, solid black waist band and red dress uniform jacket with two badges, one for bravery (back on Earth when he save Star) and for having the record for fastest complete training (Being top of the 'class'). They celebrated with a small banquet along with all the other knights who finished their training by the end of the week, but Marco and Star had their own little celebration with the other slaves on Marco's big achievement. It was later at night with small snacks and sugary drinks with a bit of a kick to it. Tjerry came up to Marco and slapped him on the back.

"Ah, my roommate's going up, growing up to be the man I raised him to be." Marco laughed heartily at that.

"I grew up to all this manliness on my own, thank you very much." He said, running a hand through his hair. A few party guests away, a group of girls surrounding Star swooned.

"Oh, gawd, it's sinful how hawt he is~!" A green tinted female said, a slight squeak in her voice.

"And you get him all to yourself, you're too lucky girl!" A minotaur said, twirling her pony tail on her head. Star blushed.

"Nooo, guys, stop, you're embarrassing me! I don't think of Marco that way, he's just my friend!" She disclaimed, and a round of unsatisfied groans went around. They thankfully changed topic and Star looked down in a spacing off thought. _I've never thought of Marco that way... right?_ She thought, but couldn't help think back to that time Marco had saved her back in the forest when they snuck off to fight. For a couple of days she didn't really know what she thought... but maybe... she did think of Marco differently back then?

She looked up at a laughing Marco who looked so good in that new dress uniform. What did she think about him now?

* * *

As Star thought, they had a great time, most of Star's request being approved as long as Marco was by her side. They went out to the back of the castle to the forest for a "walk" while having a bit of exercise as well by fighting monster. They were able to use the kitchen more often and Marco made her a whole lot of Earth dishes she enjoyed. But her mother also started giving her more princess responsibilities, since technically the deal was still on that she can be a good princess with sympathy for her people.

"Aaaand the 4th Mewni Assurment law..." Star droned, looking up in thought, as though the roof would give her answers. When she didn't say anything a few seconds later, Marco piped in chuckling.

"Isss...?" He asked, walking slightly behind her in the hall they were walking down.

"The right to a court hearing!" She spouted desperately before looking down at the book she held open ahead of her. She groaned while Marco laughed.

"No, it's the right to food income if untrained in an occupation." Star gave him a glare from over her shoulder.

"Why don't you just rule Mewni, Marco? You already know all the Assurments."

"What? There are only 5, it's easier to remember than all of America's amendments." He said, putting hands in his pockets nonchalantly.

"Oh, my goodness, this would be so much easier if I could just make up the rules as I go." She said with a serious face and Marco had to laugh as they entered a breezeway on the way to the dining hall. Tom, who was lounging in the gardens, casually setting flowers on fire, looked up towards the breezeway when he heard voices. He assumed they were servants and prepared to call out to them to order around for fun when he saw Star shine.

He smiled to himself, readying himself to go over and spread some more of his charm he knew she would come to love when he saw that object of his current hate, following her. He was set to ignore him and just go charm up Star-shine anyway but then he saw the uniform that Marco was wearing and he paused, a feeling of detachment of his own body came over him. He knew that uniform well, seeing plenty of them outside the palace gates, guarding and on multiple occasions some of them escorting him to and from his planet. It was a knight uniform. But why was Marco wearing it...? He felt his face heat up and that similar vivid overly sensitive senses flare up as he knew happened when his eyes became white.

Why was he here and not off somewhere being used for TARGET PRACTICE?! He let out roar as the fire at his feet boosted him towards Marco at breakneck speed. It meant he was always to be by her side! Marco heard the shout and turned to see the offending person coming at a hurdling speed and barely thinking he shoved Star a few feet ahead.

"Watch it!" He barely got out before Tom impacted against him. Marco met his outstretched hands, holding him at the wrists stopping him from reaching his neck or wherever he was aiming. But Marco couldn't keep up this defense forever.

"It's ALWAYS you!" He let out in a demonic voice. "You're always by MY bride's side. Now you're her _personal_ knight?! I WON'T let you have her, she's MINE!" He growled, twisting his arms in an attempt to get at Marco. Star, recovering, heard everything he said, but it made her more angry than sympathetic, talking as though he owned her. Marco grunted as he was brought to one knee under Tom's power and Star felt like she was snapped back to reality.

"Tom, NO!" She shouted, running over and pulling at shirt to get the force off Marco.

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" He growled, swinging a leg forward and pushing back forcefully, hitting her square in the stomach and launching her back. She let out an oof as she hit the ground in the garden, having flown through the open hall walls.

"STAR!" Marco shouted out in concern, totally taken aback. He turned his attention back on the livid fire man with a vengeful growl and took the opportunity that Tom wasn't fully focused on him to strike back. He finally released Tom's wrist to allow him to lunge forward, and he stumbled over his excess force and over Marco as he ducked. They both turned around to face each other and Marco did two rising punches to Tom's chin before giving 4 or 5 consecutive punches to his exposed gut and then tripped him so he landed on his back. Tom let out a groan as he slightly rocked on his back, and Marco was glad he still remembered his Karate even though he hasn't practiced much outside of going with Star to fight the wild monsters. But now wasn't the time to congratulate himself. He ran over to the large opening of the hall breezeway and jumped over the small ledge, before leaning down to Star's side.

"Star, are you ok?!" He asked, gently placing a hand under her neck and gently lifting her head up, and he put his knee behind her head so she could be propped up.

"Ugh... Marco..." She groaned, looking up at him through squinted eyes. "5 more minutes..." He let out a small laugh before smiling sadly.

"I'm sorry, Star... I couldn't protect you before you got hurt..." She gave a smile back.

"Shut up... he totally sneak attacked me. I could've taken care of myself." Marco snorted, at least he knew she was ok enough to make jokes. Two guards rounded the corner.

"What happened here?!" They asked, seeing Tom and Star on the floor in pain.

"Take the prince to the infirmary, I'll take Star to her nurse." Marco ordered, and they nodded before slugging a groaning Tom over his shoulder, grumbling about Marco and fists. Marco helped Star up.

* * *

All 3 of the teens stood in front of the Queen in a solemn mood later that day, a small patch on Tom's jaw.

"I expected better out of all of you." She said. "Tom, you know better than to attack a member of the royal house, that is means for war!" Tom cringe slightly but barely acknowledge that _Marco_ was a member of the royal family.

"And Marco, you attacking and injuring a royal member is also means for war, I'm sure they taught you how to disable a person without harming them in that knight training." Marco lowered his head. He had to admit he mainly hurt Tom for hurting Star.

"And Star."

"Meeee?" She asked with an exaggerated confused face. "How am I-?"

"Going within a fight, as in, deliberately putting yourself in danger's way, to try and stop is not a princess's place! You just don't seem to get that yet, hmm?" She said, referring to when she stowed away to the Earth fight. "You should make it easier for Sir Marco to protect you by not getting in harms way in the first place!" She scolded. Star put her head down. Where's the fun in that? The Queen sighed.

"But, over all, I have to say this disaster was a bit of an eye opening experience. I can see now that if I were to just ignore this and place Star's betrothal with Tom, I would be a bit hypocritical in trying to keep Star out of danger." Star looked up with renewed and hopeful interest, Tom looked over with vague fear, and Marco got a vague understanding of what was about to happen but looked up generally confused. The Queen let out a sigh again.

"Tom, I let you stay here until your betrothal to Star took place in order to avoid war. Now I'm declaring," She said in a booming regal voice, standing up and lifting her staff with her, "That I am cutting the ties between us and the fire planet as neutral planets in exchange that I do not declare war for this incident." She slammed the foot of her staff to the floor. "So says I, Queen Moon Butterfly. Dismissed." Tom gasped in surprise while Star did her best to hide her squeals while she hopped from foot to foot.

"No way! Yes!" She cheered to herself, jumping in a little circle.

"NO WAY!" He shouted. "This is not the end of this!" He growled while two guards came up behind him and reached for his arms. When he felt them he snapped his arms away. "Don't you touch me! You haven't heard the last of me! I will declare war on this whole planet! I'll blow it up! Set fire to all your citizens!" He cried out, having been caught by the arms of the guards on his way out. He caught eyes with Star.

"Star! I'm sorry! Tell your mother I'm sorry! Don't let her tear us apart! Give me another chance!"

"No way, Flame-o!" She taunted, hopping on foot to foot, pointing at his retreating form obnoxiously. "I never have to date you again!" He caught eyes with Marco.

"This is your fault! I'll get you for this SLAVE BOY!" The doors closed on his rants but his muffled shouts could still be heard as he was led away. Marco rolled his eyes to Star.

"How is he going to do that when he never learned my name?" They both shared a laugh before Star abruptly hugged him.

"Thank you Marco." He returned the hug.

"I'd do it again." Star smiled from behind his back.

* * *

 **Finally! I feel kind of bad because if I just sat down and wrote it instead of procrastinating, I could've had this posted months ago! I'm so sorry, don't shame me and tell everyone away from my story! I'll be good! I promise! I've already started the next chapter! We're winding down now, to those finale chapters. Hey guys, what... is this, it this... slow burn? IDK, review, let it out, tell me how much you hate me and how long I took, I deserve it, but I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!**

 ** _Next Chapter: Very Happy Birthday_**


	9. Very Happy Birthday

**I don't have much to say, so let's move on to the reviews, shall we?**

 **MiguelHazard2: 9 months?! I thought I was bad at 7, sorry again, but thanks for not being mad guys! Lol, I was kinda paranoid you all would take the new chapter chance to tell me off, but instead you guys shower me with love, I don't deserve you guys! I am soooo going to be faster this time, like.. give me 2 weeks tops! Yay! determination!**

 **xboxrica: Glad to be back, I really missed this story, but inspiration is back. Let's get it on!**

 **Narrator Nymph: Wow, I'm sure I wasn't the firsts on the site, there was at least 500 stories when I came in, but am I really a favorite? That's an honor, I hope I can keep up with expectations.**

 **icebreaker182: Thanks for the reassurance you are not mad! And for being a loyal reviewer, you make me happy! I'm pumped too!**

 **tyrekem576: I'm happy you liked the chapter, I was worried it didn't come across as I envisioned, but whether it did or not doesn't matter as long as it was enjoyable! Glad to be back and I hope to keep up the hard work! (Not hard at all, I'm just lazy XD)**

 **Mr. Drawer : I'm happy to have reeled in another victim... haha, just kidding, I hope you enjoy the chapters that will (hopefully) be coming out more constantly!**

 **OMAC001: Yea, it'd be a little forced if he was still allowed to stay! XD**

 **Ok, thanks again for not giving up on my story! I'm feeling the love! Enjoy!**

 ** _Very Happy Birthday_**

* * *

Star felt happier than she had in months! Tom was out of her life, she could (technically) freely fight monsters, she was friends with all the servants in the castle and when she was older she'd start working on the citizens. Star sighed happily as she looked over to the door that led to the new addition to her room that knew contained Marco so he could be a call away. She's sure if she sighed any louder he'd hear her and come rushing in like... well, like a knight in shining armor! He was probably the best change that's happened in her life so far.

She gazed out her balcony window from her position on the bed and watched the stars twinkle outside, and she traced some made up constellations. They were so close now, she wouldn't know what to do with herself if he ever left her but... what was she doing thinking about such depressing things this time of night anyways? She finally scooted down in her sheets and laid her head on her billowing pillow. Maybe she was just nervous about turning 17. She felt anxious and stressed but she didn't know about what. Maybe because she was closer to having to be queen. Of a whole planet.

She released a calming breath. No, it'll be fine. Marco will be with her. He'll be right there beside her. She flipped to her side, finding no comfort in her huge comfortable bed.

She sat back up looking at Marco's door. She slid out of bed and tip toed to his door and put an ear to it and she could hear his light snoring. She opened the door as softly as she could and made her way across the organized room that was probably 1/3 the size of her own to Marco's sleeping form on the full size mattress. _He insisted on not having a bigger bed,_ She thought amused. _So modest._ He had one arm under his head and the other thrown over his head, the rest of his body from mid chest down was hidden beneath his sheets. She bit her lip feeling out of place, what was she doing there really? She let her eyes roam downward to the floor, knowing she just wanted some sort of comfort, and she felt a little sad that Marco was asleep although she knew he was before she even came in here, but it just her feel lonely. She took a step back and moved to turn back to the door when she heard shifting.

"Mmmh, Star?" He asked groggily, propping himself up on his elbow, rubbing an eye. She turned back to face him, a hand to her mouth.

"Oh! Sorry, Marco, I didn't mean to wake you..." She whispered as not to rise him from his slumber anymore.

"Don't worry about that, what's wrong? What's the matter?" He asked, waving her over to his bed with one hand as he sat up. Star bit her lip but allowed herself to wander over.

"I just couldn't sleep..." She said, not wanting to bring up all her problems this time of night. Marco nodded, and started shifting back down onto his pillow.

"You can sleep with me, it could just be you're feeling lonely." He said, a yawn creeping into his voice. Star smiled and quickly scrambled to get under the sheets, nearly knocking Marco off the other side.

"Ah, Star! Watch it!" He cried out, flailing his arms to keep balanced.

"Sorry!" She giggled, and finally settled down, placing her head on Marco's arm to use as a pillow.

"Really?" He asked with a half amused smirk.

"What? It's comfortable."

"Sure, sure, princess." He mumbled, shifting to get more comfortable with star using his arm, his other arm falling over her stomach. Star scooted closer, cuddling into his chest, close enough that she could hear his heartbeat. Soon after, she could hear his snores return, and feeling the warmth enveloped around her, she knew she wasn't far off from sleep herself. She let a smile grace her face while her eyes fluttered close, _Yes, Marco is the best thing that's happened to me..._

* * *

Marco noticed as the week went on that Star would have to make a lot of stops to places like her tailor or the head dresser. He was just too curious not to ask, especially after he had to wait about 2 hours for her outside of the tailor's room one afternoon.

"Star... what's up with all these stops?" He asked, following faithfully behind her as she made her way to her room with a couple of books to her chest.

"Oh! Well, you see, around the time my birthday is coming up we need to start getting things ready, like if I grew and new clothes tailored to my size, and if my taste changed, we need to make new designs so I'll be happy with my outfits, you know? That kind of thing."

"Wow, you're birthday's coming up? Happy early birthday! When is it?" He asked, speeding up a bit to look to her face. She had a mild distasteful look on her face and Marco cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"Oh, it's in June. June 28." She reported, giving a glance in his direction and turning her face away when she noticed he had a look of confusion.

"Alright, Star, what's wrong?" He asked, gaining more speed to cut her off, stopping in front of her. She paused but moved to go around him.

"I... I'm just not exactly super excited to turn another year old and one year closer to having to take my responsibilities as Queen!" She said, barely having gone a few steps before being intercepted by Marco again. "I feel like I'm not ready. It almost makes me regret not starting to take this seriously earlier..." She said, giving up on trying to run away and lean against the nearest wall. Marco leaned next to her.

"Come on, you have nothing to worry about! You've already earned the love of your servants here in the castle, and remember we said we'd go out and help you win the favor of your citizens out there? One town at a time. And by the time you do have to become Queen, everyone will love you. I mean, if you can get _me_ to like you..." He said teasingly, and Star gave him a nudge with her arm, begrudging a smile. "I know you'll do great. The fact that you're worried if you'll be a good Queen already shows you will be." He lifted her head up with a hand under her chin and she smiled fully at him finally.

"Thank you Marco." She said, getting off the wall. She knew it, as long as Marco was with her, she'd be fine. Marco got off the wall as well and began following her as they started on their way again.

"So how old are you turning again?"

"17!" She chirped, although she didn't feel as happy as she had said that, but it was better than before.

"Wow, I still don't turn 17 until November. You're older than me!" He chukled and Star did a playful victory 'yes!' "Did you celebrate your sweet 16?"

"Sweet 16? What's that?"

* * *

The Queen cocked her head to one side.

"Why would the 16 need to have extra amounts of sugar?"

"No, no, no, mom, it's an Earth tradition that marks a coming of age for teenagers, but I guess mostly girls do it? It's a giant party, bigger than all the others, everyone brings presents, there's a giant cake, and I'm treated like a princess!"

"It's basically an excuse to party hard. But I didn't say all that about the giant cake or anything..." Marco piped up, his hands in his pockets.

"But Star... you already _do_ all that for your birthdays." She said shaking her head slightly, beyond confused by these young people's weird ideas.

"But _you_ plan it for me! I just go. I wanna plan this party! And-aaaaand..." She said, rolling her eyes contemplating, looking up in the ceiling in thought. "It should be three days!"

"What?! What will you do for three days?!" She asked, appalled.

"I dunno! Party? Listen, I'll figure it out, because I'll be planning!" The Queen grumbled something about Earthly traditions but then sighed.

"Might as well let you have this hoorah, for your 18th birthday party will be your Coronation into the Crown." Star gulped but nodded none the less. The Queen waved her hand to dismiss them.

"I'll alert the servants that you're in charge of the prep, so make sure it's not a disaster!"

"Yay! Thanks mother!" Star said, and grabbed Marco's hand who let out a yelp as he was yanked from his spot and towards the door.

Star and Marco arrived at the huge ball room and Star starting looking around with her hands in 'L's to visual certain points in the room.

"Alright, to plan this party, I gotta think like a 16 year old!" She rasped out.

"Star, you _are_ 16." He laughed at her funny stances as she looked around the room.

"Sssh, Marco, I meant, potential 16 year old."

"So you mean 15?"

"What did I say? Sssh!" He laughed. They worked together with the servants and old slaves to get things set up, mainly the basics like balloons and streamers as Star still had to brainstorm on how to make it "Sweet 16" worthy. She especially hung out with her girl cliques from the old slave quarters to get ideas.

"Oh, A bounce party!"

"Drinks~" A girl slurred.

"Are you drunk right now?" Star asked, pointing her feathery pen end at her. She shrugged while the other girls giggled.

"Karaoke!" A horned short haired girl with dragon wings piped up, flying in the air a bit with excitement.

"What's that?!" Star asked catching her excitement.

"It's where you sing songs that are popular with friends, and you get judge on how well you sing!" She said.

"Ooooh, let's do that!" Star squealed. She checked her list. "Alright, so based on what I have so far, the three days seemed to be separated into gift getting and getting-to-know-you games, open to the people of Mewni, the second day is a hard party with all my closest friends, not really for the stuffy coats, haha, my mom will _not_ be there." She giggled with the girls. "The third day will be... the normal ball type party where Mom's friends come to dance around, a gala, where I show off my newest dress." She said, jotting down some arrows to make sure she remembered what happens when.

"Wow, Star sounds great!" a fairy said. "I'm excited and it's not even my birthday!"

"Yes, and now the fun part! We get to set it up! We need games! I need committees! Let's go people!" Star said, hopping up and clapping her hands and the girls scrambled to get started.

* * *

The next couple of days, Star's room was like the headquarters for the party. The traffic to and from her room was ridiculous, people wanted to approve of color schemes, plates, steamers, flavors, guest list, and all the while, Star was planning events, making sure nothing overlapped and she wanted to arts-and-craft some decorations herself, painting her Sweet 16 banner and personalize a couple of invites for certain people.

She was sure she would have gone crazy if Marco wasn't by her the whole time. At times he saw how fed up she was with dealing with everyone coming in so he'd go outside and divert people away for a few hours so she could relax with her painting of her banner, and other times when she didn't know what she'd want he'd pick for her, and she didn't even know he was writing down her decisions for her until she had wondered if picking the yellow or blue flowers would match more with whatever color she picked for streamers and he had told her she had picked purple and blue would be best.

Those few planning days were crazy, stressful, and overwhelming, but she would never had traded it in for another experience and she felt less anxious about getting another year older during the whole process.

Everything was prepped and everyday the parties would start at 6, with Star coming in at 6:30 except the second day where it's partying with her friends. The decorations would be pulled down and set up everyday in the morning in preparation for the evening. Star collapsed onto her bed exhausted and Marco followed suit next to her.

"That was horrible." She sighed out.

"That was my first time planning a sweet 16. And I didn't even do most of it. You must be dead." Marco chuckled turning towards her.

"Ack! You're right!" She said, stiffening up as though she died, and they both let out a laugh.

"Oh man... I'm turning 17 in a week and a half!" She sighed out.

"You'll be fine. I'll be right here." He said, taking her hand and she smiled.

"I know."

The next day, the Queen stopped Star from running off somewhere to do who knows what.

"Star, my dear, I've jut had the most marvelous idea!" She said, seeming quite excited, and Star knew that was almost never good. Marco and Star exchanged a look. "At your Gala, I think we should have... suitors!"

"What? Mom-"

"Now, now, hear me out." She said, before Star could protest. "They will be princes from a range of planets that doesn't necessarily need you to go off with them to rule _their_ planet and they will be from 1 year younger to 4 years older than you, and they will be here for _you_ to choose." Star blinked at her.

"For me to choose?" The Queen nodded with bated breath.

"You don't assign me one?!" She asked, getting the tone. The Queen shook her head excitedly.

"Oh MOM!" Star squealed, and she hugged her. "Oh, my goodness, I'll have to look my best! And I'll need to know what I'm looking for, I can't just settle and get a 'Tom' Geez, that's be horrible! Oh, goodness, I have to go, thanks mom, bye!" She said running off and Marco informally dismissed himself and jogged after her.

"Suitors, huh?" Marco panted out, jogging after the running girl.

"Omg, I have been dreaming of this since I got arranged with Tom! MY Dream prince! Eeeeh! I have a journal filled with who I always believed would be my match, I'll need to perfect it, get some loaded question ready to ask to find out their real personality and- oh, I'm even more excited!" She reached her room and opened the door and Marco followed after her, closing the door behind him. She jumped on her bed, reaching for a journal, flipping through the pages furiously for the right page. Marco awkwardly stood by the door, shifting from foot to foot.

"Er, alright, I'll just head to my room then. Jut call if you need me." He said, pointing to his door lamely and Star nodded.

"Ya, sure Marco, see ya!" He frowned a bit and moved to his room, closing the door behind him. He never understood why it bothered him when it came to Star's marriage. He could just be worried about her getting a guy that doesn't deserves her, falls short of her amazingness. He smiled sitting on his bed. She deserves the best, she's just that amazing.

Star finally found the page she was looking for. Back when her mother told her to write 3 pages of 'Prince Tom' and instead she doodled what her potential dream prince would be like. There were some with wavy hair and other others with some jotted down attributes, and one with... horns?! She guessed she wanted a better fire demon than Tom. She looked up to the ceiling in thought, sitting up against her headboard and flipping to a new page to write down her plans on getting a perfect guy. Let's see, some of them had sparkles drawn by their face so she wanted someone rich? Or good looking? A few of them had roses in their hands, so someone romantic! She wanted someone handsome, but they didn't have to look like some ethereal being. They just didn't have to be someone who she avoided because they looked so bad, more easy going on the face. He should have wavy hair, Star decided, but not too long, unless they can really pull it off. She didn't really care about what complexion they had, but the saying 'tall, dark, and handsome' seemed like a good end goal Star was leaning towards.

Star began jotting down some attributes she most definitly wanted. They had to be a gentlemen, putting her and her needs first. They needed to always be there for her, even if she might not always welcome it. They had to be at least a bit taller than her, it didn't matter if he was younger. She wrote 'age well' then crossed it out. That may be a bit shallow, something _16_ year old Star would want, but she's definitely more mature now, and by the time the Gala arrives, it'll be her actual birthday and she'll be 17.

"Huh... 17..." She wasn't so scared anymore, and it was all thanks to Marco. Thinking of Marco, Star thought of more attributes she wanted in her man, protects her, makes her laugh, understands her- She could barely pinpoint what she liked in Marco so much, so she ended up writing and underlining at the end of her page: 'Like Marco.'

* * *

A servant Mewni girl peaked around the corner then gave a steeling sigh before rounding the corner and walking up to Marco, who was standing behind Star as she was lounging on the study's couch. They both turned her attention to her as she closed in on them, and both were slightly surprised when she directed her attention to Marco, not Star.

"Er... the- the- I'm not sure if you know this, since you've never been to one..." She started, flustered and blushing, and Marco felt bad, wondering if he was intimidating her, he tried giving her a reassuring smile to continue, but when she saw it, she seemd only to blush deeper. "Star's birthday gala..." She continued, looking down at Marco's feet instead, "certain servants are allowed to attend, er, like the cleaning ones and such, but the kitchen servants are used for serving appetizers and refilling drinks. Since you're not in-in the kitchen service perhaps you'd like to go... with me?" She finally got out. Marco blinked, definitely not knowing that he was allowed to attend himself with a date. Star sat up, definitely intrigued.

"Aw, that's cute, Marco! Yea, Delia is definitely good company if you choose to go with her." Marco chuckled, putting a hand behind his neck awkwardly.

"I would... have loved to go with you, but I think I rather shouldn't have a date to distract me from my duties of protecting Star." Delia pouted and Star quickly sat up on her knees, giving a disagreeing shout while waving her arms.

"Wait a second, Marco, it's my party! An exclusive one, not open to the public, what bad thing do you really think will happen? You can bring a date!"

"Come on, Star, you never know whats going to happen, I'm the precautionary action, I won't take a date."

"I understand, Marco..." Delia said, feeling further enthralled with Marco for being so manly and firm. "Will you at least save me a dance?" Marco smiled and gave her court nod. She hid her blushing face behind her hands and turned on her heels to run out.

"Oh, no fun. But I totally forgot! We need to get you fitted for a suit as well, Marco!"

"Star, there's no need to get extra on all this, the knight uniform is-"

"No, Marco, you've got to look your best for my birthday, and you need to get fitted for the gala! Listen, every year we have rehearsals on how I enter and where I go, you can get fitted at that time, ok?" Marco sighed, knowing there was almost no arguing with her.

"Alright, princess." He said, patting her head and she smiled up at him. All that talking of dates reminded him Jackie. ' _Man It's been so long since I thought of her...'_ He thought. He missed her and hoped one day he'd be able to see her again, and tell her... Marco blinked, realizing he wasn't feeling... that usual swell he felt when he thought of Jackie weeks ago, or months ago, like when he still lived on Earth. Did that mean something? He decided not to dwell on it anymore.

* * *

The time came for the rehearsals with only 2 days until the start of birthday week and Marco was stuffed into Star's usual tailoring room, being picked at and stared at like a mannequin doll waiting to be dressed. He huffed and brooded, rejecting the want of the assistant girls to be put in something skimpy or too frilly, the head male tailor finally shooing them out the room to properly work. He'd feel a lot more comfortable by Star's side, but he was happy when it was finally over.

"Let me see! Oh, no, don't let me see, I want it to be a surprise! For you too, on the gala day, don't bother picking me up for the day, I'll be using the whole day to get ready and prettied up!" Star cooed when he reunited with her, the tailored suit in a bag for safekeeping. Marco rolled her eyes but smiled at her, her attitude always brightening his mood.

"Alright, Star, I don't know what else I'll be doing without you."

"You'll survive." She said, patting his face. Soon enough, the day came for the 1st birthday day, Star appeared in a knee length poofy dress as she greeted the people 30 minutes after the party started. They all cleaned up as well as they could, but the commoners of Mewni still looked worse for wear with slightly sunken cheeks and overly worn clothes. Star had concern all over her face as Marco noticed following her around and she called over one of the kitchen servants.

"Prepare extensive goodie baskets for everyone." She whispered to him. "One for each family and enough for a week." The servant nodded and went on the relay the order to be prepared before the end of the party. Marco smiled, proud of her and her determination to be different than the past rulers of Mewni. They played Earth games Marco told Star about before like pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and Hit-the-piñata, the commoners really loving it, especially hearing of such creatures such as ducks and goose, geese? Gooses? They didn't care, it was all fun. They all brought presents for Star, the presents all piled on the entrance table and spilling to the floor, some small, some big, and colorfully wrapped. They shared the cake with Star, everyone getting a piece, and Star gave some gifts to some kids looking at the huge pile. They were all pleasantly surprised at the baskets that were passed out as the families left.

"Bless you, Queen Star Butterfly." One mother said. Star smiled.

"I'm not Queen yet, but you're welcome." She said, happily, shaking her hand. She nodded and left with the other families. Marco smiled as she turned to face him but was surprised when she leaned into him in a hug.

"That was amazing..." She said in a quivering voice. "Best sweet 16 ever." She sniffed. Marco gave her a gentle squeeze back.

"And it's only just begun. I told you you were going to be a great Queen. Come on, it's near midnight, you should get to sleep." She gave a sniff.

"Carry me?" Marco let out a laugh, and grunted as he swung his arm under her knees and hefted her up, bridal style.

"Yes, Princess." He said, starting his trek back to her room.

The next night, all servants were invited into the cleared out dining hall, the table filled with self serving snacks so no one had to work. The lights were dimmed and colored shades of purple and blue with a few strobing lights. Star wore a mid thigh length, strapless dress that hugged her body and sparkled purple, and she wore her hair in a pony tail with a few braids to help hold up her hair.

"Let's get this party started!" She cheered, turning on the latest rave music of the Mewni underground as the other servants cheered and started twisting their bodies in dances. The girl who suggested drinks were by the drinks in the first few minutes and Marco generally stayed by the food table, bobing his head to the music with a drink in his hand.

"Come _on,_ Marco!" Star said, noticing him after a few conversations with a couple of people. She tugged on his arm to pull him out the corner, though he basically let her drag him since he could hold his ground if he wanted. "It's party! You have to party!" She twirled her wand and pointed it at the floor. "Double bubble bouncy trouble!" A portion of the floor turned into a bouncy house floor and most people cheered, taking full use of it, but some others groaned, their drinks and food falling to the floor.

"Ok, ok!" Marco laughed, struggling to keep his balance among the other bouncers.

"The party can now officially start now that _I'm_ here!" A voice yelled out by the doors. Star let out a gasp and jumped away before reaching solid ground and running off towards the door.

"Princess Floating Pony Head! Fashionably late as always!" She giggled.

"You know it! Happy birthday, girl!" She laughed.

"Oh, my stars, I have SOO much to tell you about since the last time you visited!" Star said. She pulled her off to the corners to talk.

"Wow, that is so dramatic, sorry about your break up though." She said.

"No, it's cool, he was a jerk, and I get to choose my new boo tomorrow night at my birthday gala!"

"That's great, girl, I am sooo happy for you and your friend, uh, Marco, was it?"

"Yea!" Pony head gave a quick scan of the party.

"That one over there, being rained with attention from all those girls?" Star looked over and saw Marco idly talking with one girl to his left, a drink in his right hand, but at least 3 other girls waiting for his attention, one of them had their hand draped on Marco's arm. She gave a betrayed gasp and got off the wall.

"One sec, Pony head." She growled.

"Ooohh, wait, girl, you is getting jelly right now?" Star looked back over her shoulder to her.

"Ah, what? No, they are just- Marco is trying to have fun and they are, like, totally in his way!" She said, facing forward and continuing to Marco.

"Oh, she is sooo jealous." Pony head said, turning to the food table and gobbling some food down. Star reached the group and pushed two girls out the way.

"Hey, Marco, have you danced yet? Come dance with me!" She said with a forced happy tone, and grabbed the arm the girl had her hand on and yanked him forward. He let out a yelp, barely able to keep his drink steady and most of it sloshing out onto the girl he was talking to.

"Ah!" She gasped out as the other girls pouted after him, knowing their time was done. Marco looked down at his drink and didn't bother with the cup since it was mostly empty anyways and discarded it on the floor as he struggled to keep up with Star to the dance floor.

"Star, what the heck was that about?"

"Nothing, Marco, you just don't have to entertain anyone, you're here to have fun, remember?" She said, turning around and grabbing his other hand, ducking under one in dancing movements. Marco rolled his eyes, getting what was happening.

"Right Princess," He said softly under his breath, so she wouldn't hear and began dancing with her.

By the end of the night, the two of them looked over the trashed dining room and burst out in laughter.

"You'd think they would have a bit of restraint knowing they'd be the ones cleaning up tomorrow!" Marco chuckled.

"I know! I feel kind of bad, but I scheduled them to start setting up my Gala at 6 am, so, it should be enough time to clean up." Star nodded.

"Alright, let's get the princess to bed." Marco said, turning around to head out the dining room.

"Carry me?" She asked, lifting her hands up.

"Come on, Star, again? You're not even sleepy."

"Oh..." She groaned, swooning on her feet. "So sleepy, can't... stay up." Marco rolled his head back in exasperation.

"Yes~ yes..." He chuckled tiredly and caught a swooning Star, following her momentum to lift her legs upward in a cradle position once more and headed off to the room.

"Am I heavy?" She asked.

"Yea."

"OH!" She gasped out, kicking her legs in protest while Marco laughed.

"But it's ok, I can carry you. I got you." He assured, and Star gave him one more punch to his chest.

"You shouldn't call me heavy."

"Alright, sorry, sorry." He chuckled.

* * *

 **Somewhere not too far off in the galaxy...**

A lean figured crossed off a picture of a planet on a list of other planets, the ones above having been crossed out and planets below still intact.

"Another forgone Mewni colony is seized for the Ludo empire." He reported, smoothly turning to face a dark figure sitting on a pointed seat.

"Good... onto the next. Soon we'll have all of Mewni's assests and they'll be cornered against our attacks." He let out a meneacing laugh.

* * *

"Apologies, My Queen, for the late hour..." A general said, bowing before the queen. With him was the Mewni assembly of consultants standing in a semi circle behind him.

"Why have you summoned me? It is nearly 4 in the morning." She said sleepily, taking her seat on the throne in her night robe.

"I am sorry to have bothered you, but we have bad news. We have just concluded a meeting where we learned of the rebellion on Earth having been slowly diminishing our resources and soldiers. Now we have a shortage of occupational and guarding soldiers on Earth and we fear they are planning an attack on the main communications tower again. We voted to send the bulk of the slaves again and hope that the numbers would discourage them from attacking."

The queen put her hand to his chin.

"No, I doubt that would. I think we should deal properly with the rebellion. I will resume this in the morning with another consultant on the matter on how to proceed." The assembly bowed.

"Yes, our Queen."

At about 6 that morning, Marco stretched and headed to the lavatory to clean up and put on his uniform. He made his way to Star's room and was about to knock on the door when he remembered her saying not to bother, that she'd be busy all day dressing up. Even now, he heard her fairy servants starting to wake her, urging her with fantasies of sparkles and glitters and bows through the door. He groaned and put his head to the door. What was he going to do now? He guessed he could always help the servants clean up the dining hall. He turned away to get changed (He wasn't about to ruin his pristine uniform) when he noticed the Queen walking towards him.

Marco frowned. That was never good.

"Oh, I'm glad I found you." She said, slightly out of breath.

That was never good either.

Marco shook his head as he listened to what the Queen had already heard earlier that morning.

"I don't understand why you're telling me this. If it were up to me, I'd tell you to just cut your loses and let Earth go free." He said, facing the Queen.

"Yes, yes, I bet you would like that, but this is not what I'm asking you. This could call for another draft of soldiers from the slaves quarters." The Queen continued. Marco's face darkened considerably.

"I thought we agreed not to call them that anymore."

"Right, right, but call them whatever we may, that is what they are. Forced servants of the empire. Now, I know you and Star wouldn't like that, and I'd hate for either of you on my case for months to come, so I motioned for best fighters to go and defend for Mewni."

"Servant _or_ slaves." Marco clarified.

"Yes. Now, this is another drastic measures, because I know _you_ wouldn't want any of your little Earth allies to get hurt, then you'd complain to Star, then you'd come back to me and _meh meh meh_ , another situation I don't want. But we really want to disarm them for a while, the same way killing them would. So, what I _am_ asking you is... what we should do." Marco shook his head slightly in thought and was very upset he had to deal with this in the first place. He didn't want to deal with the plans to trump Earth at all but if he could somehow be involved to lower the casualty count, he should take it.

"Listen, on Earth... or at least when I was still on Earth, we didn't fight to kill. We didn't really want to sink to your guys' level."

"Why I never. This is a war, killing must take place."

"I don't care, don't want to hear it, we. Didn't. Do it. Now, if you want to get them to get off your back, you'll want to learn about pressure points. It messes with the nervous system and keeps them immobile for a while. It'll cause them to retreat faster to care for those they know are still alive then leaving behind those who they know are goners."

"Pressure points, got it. What are they?"

Marco sighed. He guessed this is something he could occupy himself with.

"Ok, alright. I guess I'll teach the troops." Marco said, with a defeated raise of his hands.

"Perfect! I will gather and best and brightest to learn fast, and they will be leaving tonight at 7." The Queen said. Marco nodded and stood up to leave. The Queen bit her lip and looked back at the listening council and they urged her to continue.

"Er, wait! Sir Marco." She said, trotting after him a bit. He turned back around.

"What now?"

"Well, seeing as you are... basically the top crust of the best and the brightest..." She said, motioning to his badge on his vest. "I was hoping you'd lead this battle as captain." Marco squinted his eyes slightly, and the Queen could feel a headache coming on.

"No. I told you when I first became a knight, I didn't care for Mewni affairs and I only wanted responsibilities for _Star._ " He said with a slight edge in his voice.

"I know, but this is the best way! You know the terrain best, you know the fighting style they'll be using and you are the best at leading. They trust you and we need all the soldiers we can get!"

"No means no! I'll teach them, I'll even wish them fair well, but I will not be going on a ship back there to fight again. This isn't the same as the draft of the servants where we had no say, I'm refusing the offer."

"Technically as a knight, you can't refuse either! We don't have a lot of elite knights, and we have even fewer bests and brightest. You know I can always just draft that whole slave division and send them, you know!"

"No! Ugh!" Marco groaned, and ran the details back over in his head.

"Don't you care for these people? By you going, you can personally assure nothing happens to them. Your fellow earthlings or the _servants_ of Mewni." The Queen tried. Marco had to agree but he ran into a problem during his train of thought.

"7? Tonight? That's during Star's Gala."

"I know, but we need the troops there as early as possible!"

"Well, then whose gonna tell Star I'm not gonna be there? But I'm sure as hell it's not going to be me who ruins her birthday!" He cried, turning away with irritation. The Queen bit at her gloved finger nails, slightly pacing the floor in thought.

"Well, maybe, maybe, we don't have to tell Star. She'll be so busy fraternizing to get her future husband she won't even notice you aren't there. And by the end, when the party's over and it's late at night when she's tired from all the dancing, I'll tell her you got tired and went to bed early, then I'll help her to her room and into bed, making sure she doesn't check on you before she sleeps and you should be back before she wakes the next morning. Hopefully."

"That's a really bad plan." He deadpanned.

"You make one." She countered.

Marco looked down in thought. Obviously no one wanted to be the one to tell Star he wasn't going to be there. Someone with poor vision could tell how close they were.

"I could always not go."

"Try again."

Marco sighed. He knew it was a bad plan, but it was the best they could come up with.

"Fine. I'm unwillingly going to go along with this, but if I think of a better way then I am not leaving in the middle of her birthday gala."

"Please, be my guest." She said, with a small sarcastic curtsey. Marco rolled his eyes and stalked out the room. As he passed the door, he called over his shoulders "I'll need to go change at 6."

"Of course." She said after his retreating figure. She let out a sigh. "Wars."

* * *

So for the day, while Star was getting ready in the room and the dining room was being prepared for a diplomatic Gala, Marco spent the day with a select team of 15 persons (knights) and was actually surprised about 2 of them were women. It really hit home to remind him of his old rebel days and team, despite them growing fuzzy with old memories and emotions for a certain platinum blonde woman. Soon the time rolled around for Star's gala to start, Kings and Queens with their sons and daughters came, making light conversations above the light ambience music around servants with hors d'oeuvres on a silver platter. The party was themed blue and purple with tables lining the edge of the room with flowers and streamers, along with streamers and balloons in the ceiling. Above the archway of the door where Star was to come in was the huge banner that read 'Happy Sweet 16' that Star had painted herself.

Marco tightened up his bow tie on his suit before checking the time. He had a completely white suit with black dress shoes and black tie, along with a gold colored waistcoat underneath his top coat.

'6:27' He read, standing at the bottom of the steps in front of the doors to the dining room where he could hear the muffled music. She was almost due to be down and he was really nervous about going through with this. He really hoped Star was busy for the 15 minutes until he could slip away. He couldn't think of a better solution all day. So the plan is, while Star is not looking or looks engages he'll go off and help everyone load the ship and make sure everything is in order before they leave, and if on schedule, they'll leave at 7. He hoped the battle will take as short as he thought, and maybe be back before the Gala even ends.

He heard footsteps at the top of the stairs and a man speaking, and he knew it was Star and her father, who was escorting her down to the main dining room. He steeled his nerves and readied himself to face Star with a poker face, but when she appeared at the top of the steps, they both took each other's breath away.

Star had her long hair up in a cascading curled updo, her tiara perfectly perched on her head, her makeup was down with a light touch so it just covered her face like a blush and accentuated her natural beauty more. Diamond earrings and necklace framed her face and glittered covered her from hair to shoulder, making her sparkle. Her pink ball gown, matching her heart cheeks, was a strapless sweetheart shaped bodice with two ribbons tied behind her neck and coming down to meet at the center of her cleavage in the sweetheart bodice. At her waist, the dress puffed out with the top layer separating like curtains, held up with designed bows to reveal a darker pink fabric underneath. She wore the same dark pink color on her long elegant gloves and a brief glimpse of her shoes showed clear crystal-like low heels.

He couldn't believe how amazing she looked and he felt even worse for having to leave in the middle of her carefully planned out night. The King was absolutely glowing with his daughter on his arm, he couldn't be prouder of how she grew up. When the two reached the 7th or 6th stair from the bottom, the double doors to the dining room opened and many looked their way as the music shifted to a softer, majestic music. The father continued leading them out the doors and Marco shadowed behind them, carrying a presence that obviously said soldier. The King stopped a few steps past the door when she was obviously in full view of all participants, and bowed slightly to her. Star gave a little curtsey and the King backed away, headed off to join his wife. Marco stepped forward to her side, and she took his arm as he led them further into the party.

"You clean up nicely." She said as he lead her to a table.

"You're one to talk. You look amazing." He breathed. Star looked up at him and smiled, and Marco felt his chest clench, and he couldn't help but feel like it felt familiar, but he felt it around someone else.

"Thank you." She looked back ahead at the guests and all the guys who were planning their next moves to woo the princess and she couldn't help but feel a bit anxious at leaving Marco to go talk with others. Her best guess was the feeling came from guilt that he'd be bored like at the party last night.

"Save me a dance, will you?" She asked from the corner of her mouth as she noticed a guy was starting to come up. Marco's mouth went dry as he found his mouth gaping open and close to say anything. He didn't want to lie to her, but he wasn't about to deny her request. The man came up, he wore a black suit and had furry hair that almost covered his eyes and tell tale signs of horns coming out the sides of his head. He opened his hand and bowed to Star.

"May I have this dance?" He asked in a pleasant husky voice.

"Why yes." She said, taking his hand and starting off, but as he led her off, Star turned back to Marco, cocking her eyebrow waiting for an answer. Lie it was then. Marco closed his mouth and let his head fall slightly in a numb nod and she gave a small smile, turning back to focus on her current date.

 _That was horrible. This is still a dumb plan._ He thought, standing rigid, not enjoying himself at all. He could only watch and wait for the time to leave. The first few minutes, Star would look back to find Marco, giving a small smile to make sure he knew she acknowledged him, but as the party continued and more guests interacted with her, just as the Queen hoped, she barely turned towards Marco's direction. Marco looked up to find the time on the walls and saw the time had come for him to go. He casually started for the doors and when he was out of the room and a few steps out, he began jogging towards the ship hangar, undoing his bow tie to get the formal suit off.

He entered the bay and was greeted by one of the knight ladies, Marco believed her name was Elix.

"Wow, you're finally here, Princess didn't give much notice?"

"You can say that, but that was the plan. Come on, start loading up, I'll need to change into my uniform." He answered her, already with his top coat off. She gave a quick informal salute and jogged off and Marco briskly walked to a small meeting room adjoining the hanger where his suit awaited.

* * *

Star gave a slight curtsey to the latest guy she danced to. She felt almost as if she weren't in control of her body, and she just watched it moved through her eyes, her muscles having long known what to do and when in response to others. She could barely focus on anything happening around her. Ever since she saw _Marco_ waiting for her at the bottom of the steps, she felt like she couldn't quite catch her breath when she thought back to it, and on top of that, she couldn't seem to get him out of her head. Not just of tonight, but the past few days, few weeks, since he came!

It was like her mind was playing her a play she had seen already, but she missed the point, the big twist, the obvious theme and the mind wanted her to see every moment with Marco, every second of their exchanges and every detail about him until she figured it out. She even had to stop looking at him so much because her stomach would flip every time she met his eyes.

She never even got around to asking those loaded questions she had prepared that one night, she remembered, as she took another man's hand for a dance and mumbled something about how charmed she was to meet him.

' _I don't even think I really made any questions.'_ She thought, leaning her body one way as the two of them waltzed. ' _I just really wanted my future husband to be like_ Marco.' She looked up at the man she was dancing with and maybe something in her mind clicked, but her anxiety returned with a vengeance.

' _And this guy's not Marco.'_ She abruptly bowed out of his dance as he cocked an eyebrow at her with confusion.

"I'm sorry." She could barely get out, her chest feeling like the air's been squeezed out of it. Maybe she's finally figured out what he brain wanted her to realize, showing all the precious memories, moments with Marco.

' _It's always been Marco. Why do I need to look for someone who's_ like _Marco, when I could just_ get _Marco. I already have him.'_ She thought, as she turned down 2 other men trying to ask for a dance.

"No, no, I promised someone a dance...!" She awkwardly laughed out and she maneuvered away from them to try and find Marco.

' _I have to find him, I have to tell him!'_ She said, looking in the direction she last saw him, by the food table where she left him, and began searching the sidelines when she didn't see him, her stomach cramping up when she couldn't see him.

"Haha, Marco~?" She sung out nervously, moving across the floor to try the other side. Where was he? The Queen saw star rejecting dances and looking around and knew what that meant. She excused herself from whatever conversation she was in and made her way to intercept Star.

"Star, honey, what's wrong?" She asked, grabbing her shoulder and turning her to face her.

"I-I can't find Marco, he... saved me a dance." She said, her eyes dropping to the floor. She wasn't exactly emotionally ready to tell her mother she might be in love with her personal knight. The Queens face srunched with frustration while Star wasn't looking.

' _That idiot!'_ She thought, fixing her face and taking her hand under Star's chin to bring her eyes up.

"Er, yes, I saw him, he told me he was tired and he went to bed early." She tried, hoping that excuse will still hold water. "But don't worry about it, be merry, fraternize and find your own future betrothal." She said in a light pitch, waving her hands daintily in the air.

"I-I will, I just... really need to see Marco right now." She said, looking left and right, any anxiety that left when Marco was by her side flaring up again. "Why would he go to bed, it's barely an hour into the gala. Ok, please excuse me a moment." She said, trying to turn away. The Queen grabbed her wrist.

"Wait, alright, um, when he told me he was going to bed, he looked a bit unwell, so-"

"He's sick?! Oh, I have to go, call the rest of the gala off!" She said, even more anxious to go to his side.

"What? Off?! Star, you are not going to forgo all of this, all these princes came for you, you need to pick one!" She said, keeping Star's wrist as she tried to run off. A few people around them noticed the situation and backed away to get away from the explosive situation.

"I don't- I don't want any of these guys! Mom, please, not now, Marco needs me-!" She said, tugging at her captive wrist.

"Star, you won't find him!" Star finally stopped her struggle and looked back at the mother square in the eyes.

"What?" She asked softly. The Queen licked her lips with a flick of a tongue nervously before looking at the clock that read around 6:55. She'll never make it, but she'll be upset. But at least she can't stop it, she can suck it up and Marco will be back.

"Listen, we needed soldiers-"

"NO! Mom!" She cried out, drawing attention from the attendants.

"Star, listen, _please!_ He's fine, it's not a dangerous zone, they are defending a base, he told me they don't strike to kill-!"

"Kill?! Mom?!" She cried, covering her ears, panic taking her place of anxiety.

"No, no, no killing- listen, his ship has probably already left, he'll be back by morning or afternoon, but he will definitely be back tomorrow. Please, Star, calm down and finish your birthday ball! You'll need to choose someone tonight." Star dropped her hands down to her sides and looked at the ground. She couldn't get her mother to understand, not yet, not tonight. She looked back at her mother and nodded, trying to make sure her unshed stress tears weren't perceived by her mother, and her mother nodded, giving her a slight hug.

"Enjoy tonight, ok? It's your birthday and Marco would want that." She said into her hair.

"Ok, mom..." She whispered, hugging back. The mother let go and moved back to the King, keeping eyes on Star. Star looked down at herself and then around at all the glamour and just felt so privileged, it was almost unfair. She looked around to find the nearest boy and grabbed him to dance. She felt calmer now then before, no anxieties as she steeled her resolve. If Marco was going out to fight, he would need her. She was practically his partner in fighting, they fought best together.

She waltzed to the food table closest to the door and bowed out the dance, thanking him for it. She pretended to fiddle with the food and gave her mother and any authority figure one look over before calmly making her way to the exit, as not to make sudden movements to draw her mother's eye. When she got over the threshold of the room, she bolted for the hangar.

' _My mother told me I won't find Marco, but I know if he's still here, that's where he'll be!'_ She thought as she panted, her footsteps pounding on the floor, her slippers being thrown aside so she could run faster.

* * *

Marco kicked the side of the ship slightly, as a technical knight finished up the repairs and the flight knight jogged over to the pilot seat. Darn ship, now they were behind schedule, all because the supply pit door wouldn't close. He checked the time on a nearby clock.

"7:02..." He grumbled.

"We're good! We can head out captain!" The pilot said.

"About time! Stop milling around people! On the ship, let's move, move, move!" He shouted out and the knights quickly sprang back to life, filing onto the ship. He watched them all get on by the door, and when the last one went on he followed after him.

"Alright, let's get this thing in the air and out of here. The sooner we get there, the sooner we get back." He said, securing himself in on the chair.

"Yea, the sooner you can get back to your _princess~!_ " A guy said in a teasing voice, sharing a couple laughs with a couple other knights.

"Hardy-har-har, yuck it up." He mumbled. He did want to get back to Star as soon as possible. While she felt less anxious when he was around, he couldn't say it was a lie the other way around. He felt super responsible for her and wanted to always be by her side to reassure her in everything and make sure she never felt any sort of turmoil or pain. Yea, the sooner, the better.

The ship's engines fired up and they could feel the ship moving upward. A loud beeping could be heard, which is what they heard the first time when the supply door wouldn't close and they had to land and fix repairs.

"Mileeessss!" Marco said in a warning voice. He said it was fixed!

"I got it, I got it!" He called back, messing with some controls. A grind noise was heard from the back and then the ship jerked upward suddenly, a round of cries from everyone in the seats, but then the beeping stopped.

"See?" Miles said.

"You're lucky we were buckled in! That could've tossed us into the air."

"I know, sorry, backfire." Marco rolled his eyes.

* * *

Star arrived in the hangar, breathing haggard breathes from running so hard, her hair disarrayed and her crown having been lost, but she made it just in time as she saw the ship was still there, but it was gathering into the air, the pressure from it blowing at her dress. She noticed the supply door was still open and gave one more spurt for it, leaping in just as a loud grounding was heard and the door started closing.

"Ye-" She began, but then a sudden jerk forward and she was in the air, and she flailed her arms out as she was on a collision course with a wooden box. She shut her eyes, placed her arms in front of her face and she blacked out.

* * *

 **Heehee, hey guys! Lots of Starco in here (finally, amirite?) and it is so funny because this whole chapter was not in my planning and made up on the spot (Good job! yay) but whoo, are you guys gonna hate me or what? The next chapter is going to be the last chapter as planned, buuuut, as it is the finale I am asking for more than 2 weeks to finish and update! -dodges rocks- I know, I know, I** ** _just_** **came back from a huge dumb hiatus, but I want this to be around 10,000 words (twice the normal chapter size) and based on how much more plot I need to punch in here, it's gonna have to be around that. Now, I'm planning on making the last chapter 3 parts, so the next chapter isn't last but is part of the finale.**

 **Based off how long this chapter was (10,000 words, WHAT?!) it might even be closer to 15000 words. But hey, I know I made the solution of Marco slipping away for plot purposes, but I also couldn't think of another plan (I also didn't think very hard). Can you guys come up with something? I wanna know, leave a review with what you'd propose if you'd like. I wanna thank everyone for reading and I hope you have patience for the last of it! see you next time for the finale!**

 _ **Next Chapter: The Foreign Enemy**_


	10. The Foreign Enemy

**Here is the complete final chapter, and a HUGE thanks to MiguelHazard2 for pointing out a mistake not even my beta realized. It's fix now!**

 **The Foreign Enemy**

* * *

Marco stared out the ship's window to see the Earth again among the stars, looking lit up by the sun in an ethereal glow. Geez, how many times will he have to be tantalized by what he wants most? _To be back home._ He checked the time to mark when they exited hyper speed. _7:15._

Marco hoped his princess was still distracted and having a good time. He could only hope he could finish fast enough to rejoin her before she noticed. They started their descent.

Star was not having a good time. She had just groggily woke up not too long after exiting hyper speed and looked down at the ground to see dark splotches of blood, and she stopped herself from asking who was bleeding because she had remembered she had hit her head before passing out. That was a lot of blood. She didn't want to think about how much of a mess she looked or how bad her condition was, so she just tried not to move too much and hunkered down next to some crates as an anchor to hold as she felt their descent.

As she felt the ship rumble from entering the atmosphere, she became aware she didn't know what she would do now. She groaned, putting her head between her crossed arms. She always did this, she acted first then thought after. One thing she did know was she didn't want to get caught by anyone but to see Marco first. He'd understand why she was there. He did last time. He was nothing but concerned, and she really needed to talk to him. She hoped he was the first face she saw when those back doors opened.

* * *

Marco disembarked and looked around the wide savannah plain with browning grass and a tower not too far off. He saw off in the twilighting distance dim light sources that were obviously fires. Marco squinted his eyes as he tried to judge how close they were.

' _I can't smell the fire from here but the light can be obviously distinguished as a fire... they're not 15 minutes off by foot. I don't think they're planning on holding off their attack till morning...'_ He judged, foreboding they'd attack tonight. But that didn't mean he didn't know when they were attacking. The rebels obviously knew the tower had very little security at the time; they should know, they were the cause of it. But then weren't they suppose to attack before reinforcements came? Thinking of that, Marco didn't think he had a lot of time to get his soldiers there and stationed for a benign counterattack.

"Alright guys, let's move, we're on a time crunch, don't let them know we've arrived at the building, they might have seen the ship already and could try to intercept us on our way there if we're not fast enough. Let's move swiftly and discreetly." He turned, ordering to his soilders, only to see them milling off the ship. He huffed slightly as they all jumped into gear. _aren't they suppose to be the best?_ He straightened up a bit to take more control.

"You two, get the supplies, me and Elix will scout ahead to get jeeps to pack this stuff in and bring the others over." He said, starting to head towards the tower. Elix started into step with him and the others started opening the doors to the supplies.

Star was nearly nodding off and hoping she didn't lose too much blood when she heard the whirring of the doors. She felt hopeful and leaped up to peak above the doors that were lowering from the roof but saw black sleek hair instead of her Knight's brown tuft and she lowered herself, crouching behind a box in the shadows to stay out of sight. Two guys entered and started unloading, removing Star's potential hiding places, and she looked left and right and knew she had to hide in one the supplies again to keep out of sight until she could find Marco. She worked quickly to open the box next to her and saw it was sheets.

"Perfect!" She whispered to herself and cozied herself in and closed the top on. A few minutes later she felt the box being lifted up. She felt the bruise on her head throb and she felt fatigue wash over her as all the jumping around she just did caught up with her and she let her head bob back onto the comfy sheets.

"I'll just close my eyes real quick..." She murmured.

Marco returned driving a jeep to the others where the supplies were dutifully unloaded onto with Elix coming up behind him in another jeep.

"Alright, load supplies in this jeep, soldiers on the other. Let's go." Marco said, standing in the driver's seat of the open roof jeep.

* * *

They travelled to the tower by jeep, kicking up trails of dirt on the way. Marco hoped the rebels didn't see the trail. They got there and jumped out, starting to unload quickly. As the others were unloading supplies, youngish looking buff soldiers made their way over. Marco sized them up but didn't recognize them. They must have been relatively new soldiers that's only ever been positioned here on Earth or else he'd have met them on Mewni.

"Who do we answer to?" The one in front asked.

"Me." Marco said, standing up straight from bending over a supply box of sheets to look at them in the face. The soilder had to downcast his eyes slightly, having a few inches on Marco, but seemed to be pleasantly surprised at seeing him.

"Well, sir, we'd like to thank you for bringing the reinforcements and we'd like to catch you up with all the reports we have here." Marco's brows furrowed a bit, he was trained to be a knight, a fighter, but he was never really prepped for all the 'order' stuff. He hoped all that meant was battle plans.

"Alright, let me just let my group know what to do when they finish up with the supplies..." Marco said, turning to address them.

"Please, allow my troops, sir, we'll take the supplies to the supplies room, you just position your soldier to wait for you when the meeting's done." Marco blinked as the soldiers moved past him and to the supplies, tackling the task with efficiency and enthusiasm. He turned his head a bit so the soldiers were in his peripheral vision.

"Eeer, alright... then. Knights!" He barked out and they all turned, standing at attention. "Move to guard entrance points, main and minor, anyone without an entrancee to guard move to a vantage point to make sure the rebels aren't sneaking up on us. Work out a warning system, _discrete_ , got it?"

"Yes sir!" They chorused out.

"At ease." He told them with a small wave of his hand and they started off to the building in a light jog to get it done quickly. Marco turned back to the commanding officer and was taken aback when it seemed he was beaming at him.

"What?" He asked warily.

"Oh, nothing sir, this way, to the meeting room." He motioned with some of the files in his hands and a smile on his face and Marco went off that way, giving the young man a wary look as he passed and the man continued next to him. They entered the building which had a long hallway down to the end, windows and doors on either side of them.

"I'm Leaf Bushes, by the way. I just remembered we didn't do introductions back there." He said with a happy tone in his voice. Marco gave a bit of a side glance to him, noting his name is mewni origin.

"Marco Diaz." He stated, not really wanting to entertain whatever this Mewni found so amusing. He was starting to get a bit tense around these soldiers like he use to back when he was fighting against them. He missed Star.

"Diaz, sir, if I may, I would just like to say I'm happy to see such a young commanding officer among these ranks." He said, bending a bit over to look at his face as they walked side by side. "I myself worked hard to get to my position such as one in charge of a major communication Tower for Mewni. But I know of all the doubt and hard times people can give just because you're young."

"Uh-huh..." Marco said indifferently, giving more attention to the layout of the building to remember his way.

"They underestimate you! Your abilities! What you can do! But that's a mistake in the fighting force for the Mewni empire. The way you commanded your troops back there Diaz, sir... that was astounding, inspiring! They obviously respect you, and I _believe_ you're younger than me...?" He continued, gesturing his hands in Marco's direction to confirm. Marco returned his attention back in his direction, noticing the pause in his monologue. He said something about age...?

Marco looked him over and he did seem to have more developed muscles and mature profile. "Yea." He affirmed, though interacted much little else. Bushes smiled almost sympathetically.

"Yes, it is tough, being younger just means we have more to prove, so showing weakness can be tough. Keep up a wall and keep out emotion... We have to work harder and keep concentration. I know sometimes you can feel alienated..." He put his arm on Marco's shoulder, receiving his attention in a form of a karate chop off the body and a defensive position and Bushes put up his hands disarmingly.

"Just know it's different here. My men know the meaning of hard work, and they wont brush you off for being young. In here, shall we?" He said, finally reaching a door that was labelled ' **Meeting Room A.** ' He opened the door and entered first and Marco followed, seeing a couple guards in there to join them and he breathed out a bit, trying to relax. He knew he didn't have much to worry about, but this kid...

' _What does_ he _know about being alienated? Mewni's his home planet... he doesn't what I've been through...'_ He thought as he joined the soldiers around the short table with some files and papers on it.

* * *

Jeremy flailed his hands around his head as he sat by the fire.

"I hate mosquitoes! I hate outdoors. I hate-"

"Shut it. Now." Janna snapped, looking up from the building lay-out. "This map is hard enough to see in the fading light, I don't need distractions from focusing too." Marco was taken weeks ago, almost 2 or 3 months ago. Of course they just didn't lay around and let their team, _Marco's select, elite team_ , just fall apart. He'd be disappointed if they did that, as though he didn't train them right.

First thing they did was get Jeremy and the two he wiggled away back to the group. They needed all the skills they could get and there was no time for pickiness. Jeremy said he'd come back if he could be captain, and Jackie, still raw from losing Marco, told him to beat everyone on the team in hand-to-hand combat and the captain position would be his, because everyone sure knew Marco could do that. He failed on one of the _cheerleaders,_ so he stood down.

They joined back up and worked on re-working the ranks so to include Jeremy, Ed and Tammy and to compensate for Marco's absence. If Marco could see them now, he'd be proud. But it's still hard for Janna sometimes, although she doesn't know about the others. They had time to cope and they have adjusted to not having him around, but they had him be leader for a reason. He was made for it, and both of his choice for next best captains were girls, and sometimes Janna thought the others didn't respect them as much because of they were girls.

She tries to come off as cool about it now, but she gets stressed sometimes on how they would do this, if they should get new leadership. This mission's a big one and she hopes they can execute it as well as Marco would want it. She came back out of her thoughts as she noticed movement coming to the fire. She tensed and reached behind her back and gripped her baton staff in defense. Jeremy, sitting across from her, notice her gaze on something behind him and whipped around, but then he rolled his eyes, turning back to her.

"Can you calm down a bit Janna? It's just Tammy back from recon." He said, taking a stick and poking the fire. She finally came into view nervously and Janna frowned, deciding to focus on the tower solely to command everyone properly.

"Er, I was watching and a Mewni ship came in and I'm pretty sure reinforcments arrived. But there weren't many, like there were maybe 10, if that many." She rambled, playing with the tip of her braid. Jeremy sat up straighter.

"Wait, what, really? Based off that and how many people we got off patrol... there's not 15 people guarding the tower! HA! Do they even care about this tower anymore? We're this close to winning." He snickered but Janna frowned.

"I don't know, doesn't that seem weird? They obviously sent out for reinforcement, so why so little?"

"Maybe they're running out of soldiers cause we're so awesome." He said, waving around his stick arrogantly.

"Or maybe there is something that's changed. Maybe this tower isn't as important, but they are trying to let us think it is while they build up another base."

"You sound ridiculous. Does that even-" He faced Tammy who slightly jumped, trying to stay out of it. "Does that even sound like it makes sense to you?" She shook her head but then gasped.

"I-I mean, yes! I mean-! Don't ask me!"

"The point is this just means this mission will be easier than expected."

"No, Jeremy, because if we don't find out what this means, it could ruin the whole mission, or it could become meaningless!" Jeremy opened his mouth to rretort when a figure came out from a tent.

"Hey! No fighting. This is the mission we were given, this is the mission we'll carry out to the best of our abilities, whether or not there are 10 or 100 soldiers. Understood?" The two others looked down.

"Yes, captain."

* * *

Star finally opened her eyes to darkness and tried to take in a deep awakening breath but found she couldn't take much in, the air was suffocating instead. She snapped her eyes open, realizing she felt stiff and warm, and hyperventilating from the lack of fresh air. She stretched out and her hands quickly found box and she remembered where she was. She had hid in this box so no one could find her before she found Marco, but then dozed off because of the pain in her head. She hoped it really wasn't that bad! But right now her problem was getting out before she suffocated!

She pushed at the top of the box but found it wouldn't budge. She started panting and her head started pounding again so she stopped and gathered herself. She took slower and longer breathes as not to hyperventilate and peaked out one of the cracks on top. She couldn't see anything so that probably meant there was a box on top of hers, so she went to one of the sides and before looking through a crack, she put her lips to it and took a couple sustaining gasps. She moved her eye to the crack and saw she was already moved to a storage room and that she was by the back of the room.

' _This is bad...'_ She thought, leaning back. How would she get out? She probably can't get the box off on top of her but if she makes a ruckus to get people to help her out, they might send her back home before even seeing Marco! She laid on her back and braced her foot on the top of the box. She had to get out of here herself. She began pushing although the part on her head where she knew she had her injury began pulsing again.

* * *

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Bushes asked Marco as the meeting neared it's end. "Should we really only go defensive on this type of mission? We'd be sitting ducks in water waiting for their attack."

"Right, but in a way I think it's better to be defensive and less hostile, because in reality, they're rebelling because of the unfair treatment of the civilians. To attack them harshly and first is just to give them more fire and drive to keep fighting. This way we show our power and that they really can't win the way they are now." Marco explained, shuffling through the old battle plans on the table they had just went through that involved the initial battle strikes. Bushes nodded, looking off. He just gets more and more impressed with this guy every minute he's with him.

"Alright, then let's get your solders ready by-" His sentence was interrupted by the door as it slammed open and one of his solders came in.

"Sir! One of the knights on lookout confirmed the rebels are making advances to the tower!"

"What?" Bushes asked, rushing over to the door. "This is- we're completely unprepared!" Marco cursed under his breathe but went over to the commanding officer and put his hands on his shoulder to calm down.

"I would prefer to go over the plan with the team but they can handle themselves even if they don't have a proper formation." He jogged out the room to find his team and Bushes face hardened with determination.

"That's right! We should be able to perform under pressure. Let's go, give Diaz's team some backup." He followed out. Marco found his team gathered by Lithis, one of Marco's who was on lookout.

"Great, you guys are together. As you've heard, the rebels are closing in, so no time to tell you guys about the formation, the plan is just to keep them from infiltrating the main communicating room and to flush them out and back to their base, alright?"

"Yessir!" They saluted.

"Let's go!"

They started off to the front where they were met with extra soldier on base to help.

* * *

Star looked through the hole of the box and nodded, confirming that the room was empty. Geez, how empty headed was she being? she twirled out her wand and pointed it up at the roof of the box. She could just BLAST her way out of here! She huffed a strand of hair out of her face with a manic smile and thought up her spell.

"Sprinkle jaded roof blow off!" She cried out, and the box lid and all the boxes above hers were blown off in a shiny display of jewels. She tried hopping out in a triumphant bound but tripped over her cumbersome royal dress. She let out a growl of frustration and aimed her wand at her clothing.

"Magical battle transform!" She shouted and the bottom of her dress was engulfed in magic and when it died down her dress was shorter and easier to maneuver, along with a little pouch for her wand. She chuckled and twirled her wand before giving a short blow at the smoking top and tucking it in said pocket. She now exited the box successfully but heard voices from the front of the room where the door was.

"There was a big crash from in here!" A muffled voice said. The door opened and Star was too late to dive behind a box.

"Hey! It's a stow away!"

"Stow away?!" She gasped, but thinking about it, she technically was, especially the way she came here. They started at her and she held up her hands.

"Wait-wait-wait! I'm Star Butterfly, Mewni princess!" She said, and that made them stop, taking her in. While they hesitated, she also took them in. She didn't recognize them, so they must be from a branch of Mewni territory that was transferred directly to this territory. They may not know her as Princess just off name.

"We doubt that! She has her birthday gala today, why should she be down here on an iffy terriory!?"

 _To follow Marco..._ She thought, but knew that wouldn't cut it for these guards in front of her who didn't know the story between the two of them like the servants and guards did on Mewni.

So she ran.

"Flaming butterfly blitz!" She shouted and chaos ensued as they jumped at her.

* * *

She huffed her hair out of her eyes as the men, covered in singe marks and colors, brought her over to the meeting room where Marco was not 5 minutes ago.

"Come on, you saw my wand, you know that's the royal one passed down through generations!"

"Sorry, ma'am, we don't know what the lastest one looks like, we can't take that for word either."

"Geez, a paranoid bunch, aren't you?" She huffed. They were bringing her to answer to the captain on what to do. She sat between the two while they waited and soon Commander Bushes came into the room.

"What is going on? Is this a spy?" He asked, slamming both hands down on the table. Star jumped back appaulled, an offended hand on her chest.

"No, I am not a spy, I am princess Star Butterfly, and I demand to speak to Diaz immedian-" She tried, but one of the guards who brought her to the room interrupted her.

"That's what she claimed and she has a wand, but we found her coming out of one of our crates, without proper identification or crown. While we may suspect her to be a stowaway, she... looks like she needs medical attention."

Bushes inspected her, as she turned her head to glare at the man who interrupted her, and he saw the scabbing on her head and the redden streaks in her hair giving away how long she's been bleeding.

"We don't give stowaways medical care. Call up Mewni and get a transporting ship down her so we can send 'princess' back home. She'll be taken care of there." He said, turning to one of the guards and he saluted before moving away.

"Wh-wha- wait! No, you can't take me back home! I-I need to talk to Marco Diaz! Do you know him?"

"No, you can't bother him. We're at a very busy time and he needs to concentrate. He can't have distractions like you if he's to climb the Mewni ranks. He doesn't need obstacles getting in his way."

"Huh? No, I'm not an obstacle to him..." She said, softly trailing off. _Was she?_ She did always go to Marco and he seems to have to stop her from herself but he doesn't feel like that... right?

"It doesn't matter. He's going into combat right now, he doesn't have time for you, he has to focus on commanding his troops. And you're our charge now and right now, you have a one way trip to Mewni." He snapped and the guards held out his arm respectfully to help her up.

"No! I-I...! I need to talk to Marco! Oh, this is why I wanted to see him first..." She grumbled.

"Too bad. Consider yourself arrested." Bushes issued one his way out. She tsked to herself.

* * *

Marco rolled over to the next hall over and held up a fist as he looked out the corner to the front entrance dock. He didn't know if the rebels infiltrated the building yet. He didn't see anyone so he signaled the rest of the knights to move out towards the door to surround then exit. He opened the door without exposing his face and someone further in the building sounded that it was all clear out there so they began moving out and getting behind some scare shrubs and thin trees by the entrance.

Marco was a little confused as he came out last, they should've made it here already, where were they? This just put Marco more at edge, not knowing where the assigned enemy was.

"Sweep the area, don't move away from the entrance until we know they won't sneak past us." Marco said quietly, waving out his hand from behind. They began moving out silently and outward as Marco stood by the door. He was getting clears from knight after knight as they finished checking up when he didn't hear back from the last. He looked over to his left and cocked his head in confusion, seeing he wasn't there.

"Go that way. Be alert." Marco said. Two knights nodded and headed over there slowly while Marco watched critically. They turned two different ways to look and the one that turned towards the building gave a strangled gasp as hands came out to try and stab some pressure points, but he remembered Marco's training and properly countered. The other turned to help him when he hear the gasp and at the same time the rebels started to make themselves known and started using their staffs and batons.

"They're coming in from around the building! Remember don't hurt them!" He ordered just before he brought up an arm to block an attack from a staff and stabbed forward to hit a pressure point and render his arm numb.

* * *

Star looked between the two guards as they escorted her back to the landing dock of the building with a waiting ship to take her back. She could hear the fighting in the front of the building. Marco was just that close! If she could just convince these guys to let her see Marco! She knows at least the one to her left thinks to some extent that she really is the princess.

"Come on, I have to go see Marco! You see, I'm... er, I'm in partner in fighting! We normally practice our styles together! I could help him! He can't win without me!"

"Sorry, ma'am, wether you're the princess or not, you're not suppose to be here, so we're sending you back to Mewni." She bit her lip and looked behind her.

"Alright... Alright, I-" She bolted backwards and started heading towards the fight in the front.

"Hey! Stop!" They shouted. She ran and readied her wand. She'll end whatever fight Marco is in to have the time to talk to him. And they can go home toether!

Up front, Marco watched another one of the tower's guards be brought down by a rebel and he snarled. The soldiers were getting in the way more than helping the knights out. Because there was no formation, fights were just out everywhere and it seemed the rebels had more of a plan than they did, ganging up on one person at a time to adjust for the fact they may be less trained.

Marco knew he had to do something, so he started making and fighting his way to the front to help out the front lines to hopefully push them back.

"Xyn! Copper, go to the fla-...!" He tried to order out, but he noticed in the chaos and spread out amoung the soldiers of the tower, he couldn't get this organized. He groaned and now decided he couldn't stay in the back to command out and had to get things done himself.

He was nearly at the front lines when at the same time, Star reached the edge of the battles, scanning her eyes frantically over it to try and find Marco. She knew those guards were right behind her, and she couldn't take long to get into the thick of it. She dodged underneath a swinging club and into the battle, looking left and right, before seeing a flash of brown hair to her left and used that as her little anchor for direction through the chaos. Eyes were drawn to the unusual hair color, the clothing she wore.

"Is that the princess?"

"Mewni?"

"Look at the clothes!"

Whispers between the rebels were carried across for a new impromptu plan, a new goal as their allies were slowly being chipped away, falling to the floor in limp piles. Something they could do that could be considered a success if not a small one.

"Let's get the girl."

Marco turned to the left, deftly locating and striking the pressure points beneath the arm, above the knee, on the mid back, turning to the right, unarming the man before flipping him over his shoulder and striking at a pressure point at his neck, effectively knocking him out. He was in it, he was feeling the adrieniline, the flow of the fight, knocking his enemies down one by one.

He whirled around, feeling a presence behind him and aburtly stopped at the sight of Star's face. His breath got caught in his throat and had to question himself if this was real or was this his conscious bringing her here in his mind for leaving her on her birthday.

"S-star?!" He choked out.

"Marco!" She cried out, all the feelings she wanted to discuss with him... they came flooding, successfully disrupting her thought process. This must be it. This must be more than some infatuation. She draped her arms over his neck in a hug and they embraced for not longer than a moment, although wrapped up in each other.

"What are you doing here?" He cried out, neither of them seeing that the rebels had moved to surround them, fighting outward to keep help away from them. He noticed her bruised face, finally appraising it with some care. The wound curved around her hairline from a little left of her crown and stopping by her eye, a couple centimeters wide.

"What happened to you?" He asked, cupping her face. _It could have gotten infected! It needs to be treated now! I need to get her out of here._ Star blushed at the attention, holding a hand over Marco's over her cheek. She felt a bit light headed, all the running around to get to Marco, dodging the fighting around her, and she swayed slightly on her feet.

"I needed to see you! I need-!" She started, sounding a bit breathless, but stopped, gasping at something behind him. She was only in shock a quick second before she got it together and began to aim at the threat with her wand. but in the same moment Marco read it in her eyes and turned. The sharpened weapon came barreling down as Star charged up her magic to blast and Marco leaped to action.

"STAR, NO!" He striked out to knock Star's aim off to blast into the sky and for the weapon to follow through and plow into the floor. With the loud blast, the fighting stopped and they looked over. Marco turned his head away from Star to face the offender.

"Jackie...?" He murmured in the brief silence before the rebels sprang into action again at seeing how their ally was almost blast at by the Mewni princess and went to surround the two by her. Other extra rebels went to tackle down the knights, keeping them at bay in a stalemate struggle at least. The rebels surrounded Marco and Star with staffs pointing at their necks as Jackie looked at Marco with a weird gaze and Star turning around at their situation, giving a useless point of her wand at everyone around them.

Marco was also gazing back at Jackie but mostly using her face as an anchor to shuffle through his thoughts. How could he have not seen? He's been fighting his old team. Thnking back, he almost blocked out their faces in his mind or tried not to look at their faces at all, knowing it'd only distract him from knowing he had a job to do. He felt tired and deflated and din't want to do it anymore.

Plus Star was really hurt, he needed to address that. And based on the attack he just stopped, he knew their aim was to seriously hurt her. And He needed to protect her, he had to. Too much was going on at one time. He needed to settle this. Safely.

He put a hand on Star's wand and slowly put it down to her side, Star looking at him, trying to decipher his thoughts. After it was down, he lifted his hands above his head.

"We surrender." He said, never leaving eye contact with Jackie.

Jackie bit her bottom lip softly, regarding him with a familiar but at the same time foreign eye. It seemed like a lifetime before she spoke, and Marco noticed when he had said they surrender, the knights had stopped fighting too, lifting their hands, and the battle field was quiet, waiting for Jackie's orders, her next words.

"Bring 'em in."

Bushes opened the door to a look-out point and a guard there slightly jumped as he sprang away from the edge where he was watching the battlefield below and saluted his commanding officer. Bushes slightly raised an eyebrow but didn't question it further.

"What is the status of the battle? Do they need back-up? Are they pressing on?" The solider slightly looked away nervously but then looked back at him.

"The Rebels surrounded the troops after the prisoner girl ran into the middle of it to commander Marco and now they're being taken prisoner!" Bushes's eyes widened.

"What?!"

 _ooooOoooooOooooo_

Bushes ran out of the building, seeing his tower troops on the ground, rubbing parts of their bruised bodies. He quickly scanned the bodies among them but couldn't find any of Marco's knights or the prisoner who insisted she was the princess.

"Where are they?" He asked one of the better looking off soldier. He pointed off to the north where he could see a cloud of dirt being kicked up in the distance.

"When Commander Diaz surrendered, they only took him and the knights prisoner!"

"Prisoner? Not possible, Diaz would never surrender! This is serious- call the queen!"

 _ooooOooooooOoooo_

A Mewni soldier stationed in the communications room lolled on his rolling chair in front of screens and phones sipping at his drink when a dinging came up and one of the screens indicated it was coming from the communications tower on Earth. He sighed, tired of all the problem calls he gets from there, and that's only when he's on call! He picked it up lazily and put it to his ear.

"Hello, Mewni castle, soldier name, number, station and status." He answered, taking a swing of his beverage. Frantic mumbling could be heard on the other side and then it slows down as he hestitantly tells the report and the soldier's eyes widen and he swallows so fast with a gasp he almost chokes, some dribbling out uncontrolablly. He swipes his mouth as he stood up, taking the call more seriously.

"It was WHO?!" Mercy on the poor soul that had to tell the queen they suspected Star was taken prisoner.

 _ooooOooooOooooo_

Back at the party, the queen laughed off the latest joke from the circle of delegates she was entertaining at the time when someone came over and told her she had a report come in from a call. She raised her eyebrow skeptically, getting a small uneasy feeling in her gut, but excused herself and went with him out the room where another soilder was waiting for her.

"What is going on?" She chuckled nervously.

"W-well, your majesty... reported at 21 hours and 12 minutes, a call from troop number 2407 soilder Canton stationed on Earth reported that they seized a stow away prisoner but she escaped into a fight Commander Diaz was in the midst in. Soon after... they were all taken in prisoner!"

"A stow away?" She asked angrily, clenching her fist. "Allowing a stow away just undermines the strict security we take as-...!" She stopped speaking and felt as though a bucket of ice water sloshed over her as something dawned on her and the uneasy gut feeling got worse. "Star..." She murmured and ran out the room back out to the ballroom to find Star. She looked over the heads of all the guests and couldn't find her dear little girl anywhere.

"Star? Star!" She called out over the music. _Of course it would be difficult for our security to have stow allowed in their systems! But there's only one person who has done it before... multiple times!_ The king soon came over to the aid of the Queen who was making quite a scene.

"My dear, what is the matter?" He asked softly, holding one of her hands, the other on her lower back to brace and comfort her.

"St-star! She somehow got onto the ship that was headed for Earth! And that whole troop got taken prisoner by the earth forces!" His face darkened considerably.

"What?!" He lead her to her throne chair and sat her down before he took center stage of their throne room. He addressed everyone curiously watching, wondering what was happening.

"Thank you everyone for coming today, but this party is over! Something urgent has come up for the royal family and we have to take action immediantly! Take an orderly exit and excuse us." He made his way back to his wife as everyone bagan exiting, some upset they never saw the princess get hooked up with a prince.

"We're heading to Earth to get our little girl back." He said determinedly. The Queen looked up at him with a slightly trembled lip before nodding.

* * *

"Message sent and received, sir." The solider at the phone reported. Bushes mumbled his response. He was too busy thinking stuff through, something about this was bothering him.

How could Diaz get captured? Bushes couldn't figure it out. He was doing so well, sure his troops didn't have the time to get a formation in order but they were elite soldiers! This should've been too easy.

"Oh wait... he wanted defensive, that's right... no killing." He mumbled. A soilder came into the room with a small stack of papers to place in a filing cabinet in the room.

"You! Any report from Diaz? Any plans to get them back?" He asked, sitting up straighter in his chair. The soilder jumped, turnig around to look at his commanding captain.

"E-er, no..." He said, giving his eyes a quick flick to the left. A sign of lying.

" _Report_ soilder!" He snarled sharply. The soilder flinched.

"I-it's just that... a couple of us soldiers have been taking... it's- it's nothing serious, but... isn't Marco Diaz an Earth name? It's very possible he knew these people. That he wasn't actually having trouble witht he fight, but he gave in on purpose to get time with his allies without the watching eye of Mewni? The watchman who was watching... Marco sort of gave up with little resistance."

"What?! That's... ridiculous!" Bushes exclaim weakly. _Was it really?_ Marco only wanted defense, no one getting extremely hurt or killed... he knew Marco was a human name when he first heard it but he was wearing Mewni's uniform... a knight uniform! The best of the best and the trusted of the trusted! How did he really get on this mission?

"And you know, the rebels never took people prisoner before... it was just do the mission and get out. If troops surrendered, they'd tie them up and out the way. Plus, they left behind only _our_ troops." Bushes bit his lip. He couldn't believe it... Marco was a traitor. And he looked up to him so much.

"Hurry and get this place ready. We're expecting company." He snarled grumpily, getting up to leave. _This is serious._

* * *

 _Star looked down at the wand Marco was slowly lowering and then back up to him, but he wasn't looking back. He was looking at her. This "Jackie." There was something in his eyes. Someway he never looked at her before. Jackie looked back with the same expression and Star felt like she was intruding on something personal between them. He raised his hands above his head and she knew what that meant, but the way he said it when he finally did... it sounded like it held a thousand words beneath it._

Star blinked back into focus in the dim light as the teared sheets hanging at the entrance of the rabbit like-hole were disturbed. Marco came in with a box filled with medical items through the curtain. Star looked back down with the subject of her thoughts bringing back the memories of what they just went through. When they surrendered, the earth rebels hijacked one of the Mewni jeeps and drove off with their newly acquired prisoners, the other rebels following on foot and Star in the back with the elite knights, but all she could do was stare at Marco, who was sitting in the front seat, next to Jackie who drove, as they sometime looked at the other sitting next to them, even if the other wasn't looking back at the time.

There was obviously something between them. History. tension. And Star found herself tounge tied to say anything to Marco now she was around. Like whatever they had or built on Mewni didn't apply now that they were on Earth, around his past. She felt silly being there now. She should have waited for him. _Some birthday, huh?_ She thought somewhat bitterly, although, now it was so late into the night, Star was sure it's actually early of the next morning.

Marco knelt down in front of Star who sat on the low cot and made brief eye contact with her before looking at her forehead. She tried to say everything on how she felt in that moment of contact but she knew she couldn't speak through her eyes, not as intensely as this _Jackie_ could with Marco. He slowly brushed her hair back away from the cut, flicking another glance at her to make sure she wasn't showing any facial cues that it hurt, not really noticing her internal conflict.

He felt so bad that she got hurt in the first place. He still doesn't know how she did, they haven't really gotten any chance to speak properly at all since she found him. That was another thing he was kicking himself over, how could he expect Star to just... not notice him? Especially on her birthday. Of course she'd come, he was her knight, and she was his princess, he should have been there the whole time, he should have just...let the Queen do as she liked for this mission...

 _And let people die? In fact, if you hadn't done anything, it was precisely_ your _old rebel team that would be in danger of dying!_ A little logical voice piped in from the back of his head. Marco bit his lip as he finally got the hair away from Star cut. Then what was the right answer? What was he suppose to do...? He then noticed just how intensely Star was staring at him, and he wasn't even looking at her. The gaze was just that intense... Was she mad? For leaving her? They really _hadn't_ gotten the chance to speak, but now that they have the time, what is he suppose to say? He couldn't really read her. It's especially harder to since he's not looking at her face, her pinning eyes.

He skipped over her face, going from the cut on her head to the box next to his kneeling figure to get out rubbing alcohol and cotton balls. It was weird, surreal and even awkward to arrive at the entrance of the very place he called home since Mewni took over. He exited the car and made brief _cautious_ eye contact with Jackie before turning to the knights coming out the back.

"We're prisoners. We are not to pose a threat here." He stated as simply and firmly as he could in a few words, as not to make anything worse. He turned back to Jackie to make sure she approved of the message and was sure she knew there was no hidden messages. How could she think that? This is _Marco_ , her leader, her closest friend who she thought was dead and would love to have him back, even for just a day, but this is also _Marco_ , who she thought was dead, and she doesn't know how he stayed alive, and is now wearing the enemy's uniform and protecting Mewni royal family, Mewni's only future, the only thing that could stop the war...

Marco saw the confliction in her eyes but knew there was still trust there. He stiffly turned to the entrance and, not knowing if he should wait for Jackie to lead the way or just enter, he walked in first, hearing footsteps behind him. He felt awkward just walking around since he knew where everything was, like he was intruding in his own house, but carried on to get Star the first aid kit. It would be 2 times awkward to ask where it was anyway, like he forgot about this life on Earth when in reality it was the only thing he could think about when he first got captured. The knights were left to go about the hide-out as long as they stayed within custody of one other rebel member.

Now, all that was behind him, and right now he just needed to make sure Star was ok, even if she wasn't ok with him. He held up the wet cotton ball in the direction of her head and flapped his mouth open and closed, in a silent debate on what to say to her before he just settled for, "This is going to hurt." And placed it on her head.

"OW!" She squealed, and reflexively leaned back.

"I told you...-"

"You didn't let me prepare!" She protested, crossing her arms. He retracted his arms onto his lap.

"... I'm sorry." He let out in a tired murmur and she looked down at him from his knealt position. Star didn't really know what exactly he was saying sorry for. Maybe it was for everything, maybe it was just for the cut.

"It's ok." She said after a few beats, and Marco let out a small smile.

"Are you prepared now?" He asked with a slightly playful tone and she looked up thoughtfully with a finger to her chin.

"Almost. I'm sorry too." She said before looking down at him. He looked slightly shocked and confused but eased a smile anyway.

"Don't mention it." He sat up and gave her another bracing look before cupping the back of her head with his free hand and placing the cotton ball back onto the cut.

"OW! Marco!" She squealed, trying to back away again but was firmly kept in place by Marco's other hand.

"Star, just- calm down! It'll only sting for a little while!" He urged, swiping at the blotches. She bit her lip and screwed her eyes shut but sat still. Marco gave a small side smile as he continued wiping at the scar. It looked worse than it was, most of it scab over and on it's way to healing, with only little infection at the edges but Marco dealt with that with the rubbing alcohol. He got the Vaseline out and put it over the slightly raw wound then wrapped her forehead in a gauze to keep the wound isolated. He finished tying it at the back of her hair with a small sigh and a "there!"

His attention turned back to Star and found she was staring at him with the same gaze as when he thought she was mad, so that wasn't it...

"Are you ok?" He asked but she just looked down. She looked back up again but with a smile. She couldn't tell him how she felt... not now... not while he was with his old friends... old flames...

"We're on Earth~!" She said in a singsong tone. He gave a small smile.

"Yea... sorry it's not all I told you about." Star shook her head slightly.

"You told me it wouldn't... but we'll fix that." She said, but was caught a bit off guard when his face shifted slightly at the mention of "we." She took on a more cautious tone. "We... are going to fix it... right?" There was no way he wasn't coming back to Mewni with her, right?!

"I... yea." He said. "I got to go. Stay here, and rest. Ok?" Star bit her lip as she watched Marco duck out behind the curtain door again.

"Ok..." She said softly, looking down.

* * *

"We've just got update from our sensors that multiple Mewni battle ships have left the planet Mewni, including the main royal one saved for invasion." Toffee said, reporting to Ludo.

"Where are they headed? Did they know we were coming?" He asked.

"They're heading to Earth... intel shows it's another colony of theirs. Newly retrieved and not fully intergrated in Mewni's control, reports of rebellion here and there." Ludo rubbed at his beak thoughtfully.

"Hmm... well, that would even the playing field a bit..."

"Sir?" Toffee questioned.

"Well, it's better to cut them off at a place that is unfamiliar to us both than to cut them off on their home planet with homefield advantage and with the source of supplies. And we'll have the element of surprise. Follow them!"

"Yes sir!" Toffee said, rerouting the course. Once again, he's so impressed with his leader's logic and execution.

"To Earth!"

* * *

As Marco entered the lunch hall, most people turned their head to see him and they all had looks of either mistrust, puzzlement, tension, or awkwardness. He slowed at first, slightly wavering under the scrutiny of his old peers, but then continued on further into the lunch room. He's sure Star needed something to eat, this had been a long day for everyone, so he would endure this testy attention.

Jackie was sitting at the table closest to the lines and called him over when he was within earshot. It seemed the whole cafeteria's chatter quieted down to murmuring as waves of curiosity settled in on what they were going to say to each other. Marco sat down next to the young woman and met her studious gaze, patiently waiting for her to speak.

"When are we going to talk about this, Marco?" She murmured out after a while. Marco stifled a sigh. It was a long story but he could make it short.

"Now seems as good a time as any. We can't keep tip-toeing around it. But not here..." He said, barely hinting over his shoulder in a subtle signal that only his team could catch. She nodded, her mouth a thin line, and stood, making her way through the north exit of the cafeteria and Marco followed suit, taking note of Jackie from behind.

She looked good, he's happy the team and her didn't fall apart after he was taken, both mentally and physically, and didn't think he could handle it if his capture resulted in the breakdown of the people he cared most about. Care... Does she remember what he had desperately tried to tell her when he was being taken that time he was captured? His gaze turned down as he thought about whether or not he wanted her to remember.

 _'Why wouldn't you? You've wanted her to know for the longest time!_ ... But do I still feel the same?' Marco barely had time to linger on that when Jackie turned around in the corridor to speak.

"So, what happened? You're on their side now?" She asked, gesturing to his uniform before crossing her arms.

"No! It's- ugh... " Marco gave an expelling sighed to get his thoughts together and ran a hand through his hair before speaking.

"Alright, well... you know I got captured, and that was horrible for me, I was away from home, I was surrounded by the enemy, and the worst was the fact that there was an annoying little girl that thought everything they were doing was right." He sighed, barely fighting down a smile, thinking back to those days. You would think that those days would only bring bad memories that needed to be suppressed, but thinking how close Marco and Star were now, it was almost nostalgically comical how those days were.

"But she was only naïve, I told her about Earth and our perspective of the invasion and she learned, and I learned she had nothing to do with it and maybe not all mewnies are bad-!"

"Not all-! Marco, these people took our planet! Not just ours, a whole slew out there! This lady isn't just taking planets secretly, it's a thing every one of her people know of and approve-!"

"That's not-! You can't really...! It's a learnt thing! They don't know it's wrong!"

"And now they have you defending them! I can't believe you even slightly believe in them. Did they brainwash you?"

"No! In fact, Star protected me from them! From anything they were going to do to me. And every other prisoner they had. She just had to be told, they all just have to be told-!"

"Marco. They are still our enemy. We've got to do anything to get the advantage, to get them away from our planet. And now you've brought their crowned princess here. We can win. We can barter with her!"

"NO!" Jackie jumped slightly at his outburst. Marco shook his head as he regarded her sullenly. "You're not touching her. I don't care who the enemy is. She's my friend." He turned around and stalked out and Jackie sighed.

"Oh, Marco... what happened to you...?"

* * *

Marco entered Star's room again steaming. He shoved the lunch of potatoes and carrots for her on a small side table and sat down next to her roughly.

"Oh! Marco! What's wrong?" She asked softly, touching his tense shoulder, and as it eased underneath the touch, he sighed out a worn out sigh. Did he really used to have the same mindset as Jackie does right now? Star's so nice, and he'd like to think he was raised to give everyone a chance before judgement.

"Yea, no, everything's great, don't you worry about it." He breathed, and ruffled her front bangs before handing her the tray. "These are carrots and these are mashed potatoes. Sorry there's no meat, we eat what we grow down here."

"Oooh, my first Earth cuisine!" She chuckled and picked up the spork on the side of the tray. "Oh, my mewni, what is this, it's so cuuute!" Marco chuckled as well.

"It's called a spork. It's a combination of a spoon and a fork, so it can pick up or scoop." He explained, giving the tips a light tap.

"Oh, cool!" She said and scooped up some potatoes before poking up a piece of carrot at the end. "Look Marco! I made a little mushroom cup!" Marco snorted before laughing along with her.

 _OooooooOoooooOooooo_

Marco exited the room with the tray in his hand and turned around, nearly to run into a massive chest.

"W-woah!" Before he could back away far enough to asses who it was, the person wrapped their arms around him and squeezed him forward, causing him to drop the tray. "H-hey-!"

"Oh, I didn't believe them when they said you came back!" The man bellowed. Marco laughed at the absurdity as he realized who it was.

"ah, Lars! It's good to see you! You weren't with the rest of the team?" He said, taking back control of his body and separated himself from Lars hug to look at him square in the face.

"No, I'm the muscle, you know, so the mission required more stealth than strength. I can't believe it, we finally got you back! Now you can take back control of the team." Marco sighed, being slapped in the face with the tough choice he'll have to make in the future again becoming a close reality for him.

"Right, but you guys look good! Stayed in shape." He said, patting his arm.

"Yea. We wanted to stay a team you would be proud of." Marco smiled fondly at that. Lars gave a sigh. "Whoo but I knew the rumors weren't true. You weren't with the Menwi's! You'd never betray us like that." He looked down at Marco's face and his smile slowly died away as he watched Marco's furrowed eyebrows.

"I'm not with the Mewnis, but I am protecting their princess." He dared with his tone. He raised an eyebrow when Lars raised both of his.

"What? Their princess?! No way! Why would you defend the crown princess! That's against everything this rebellion stands for!"

"what exactly does this place stand for, might I ask?" Marco questioned, feeling the absurdity that this is really the way the rebellion was before he left. _I guess I can't really blame them, they've all been hurt by them, but it gives us no right to be just like them and steal a leader as a advantage point!_ He thought.

"It stands to bring Mewni down!" He said, turning on his intimidation factor for the first time in years against Marco and towering over him, the way he would trying to break down a person in interrogation. So this was it, huh? Branded as enemy for standing by Star.

"We can bring them down without shedding blood. And I won't sacrifice any of my friends to do it either."

"You won't be. Just the rotten princess!"

"Stop that! Don't call her names! You don't know her, so you can judge her!" Marco said, puffing his chest and meeting Lars in terms of intimiation. He wasn't backing down. Lars scoffed and backed down.

"But I know you plenty to judge you..." He turned off and started walking down the hall.

"Traitor!"

Marco frown, and bent over to pick up the fallen tray. He knows what he's doing. He'll stand his ground.

Marco entered the cafeteria and got the same reply as he did last time he entered but less intense. Hopefully this meant things were generally going back to order. He placed the tray on the stack of used and turned when he saw the three cheerleaders from his squad regarded him with distrust as they passed him by. _Well, as normal as things were going to get with me defending Star._ He was starting to think he was causing more of a civil war in his team from his returning then his leaving.

He stepped out a side exit to escape the bulk of stares from those in the cafeteria when he almost trampled over Jeremy.

"J-Jeremy!" He choked out. Jeremy gave him a smug grin.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Mewni!" Marco's face darkened into a glare. "I would think with you coming back, you would _want_ your leadership position back! But it seems more like your pushing your team away. And all for what? A Mewni who you haven't know for... how long?"

"Stuff it Jeremy! You don't understand what I've been through. And it's not so much as me pushing you guys away, I just don't want you hurting her!"

"Awww, Does little Marco _liiiiikkkkeeeesss~_ her?" He teased. Marco's face flushed red and he clenched his fist.

"I said shut it! Right now, you all seem like the dangerous ones! Star hasn't done anything to you and all you guys want to do is use her for war! I won't let you!" Jeremy raised his hands in surrender.

"Hey, I'm not complaining, that just makes it that much easier for me to climb up the ranks and into _my rightful_ leader position. The one I should have had since the beginning!" Marco huffed and pushed past his smaller frame, and only grew angrier when he heard Jeremy's mocking chuckle float down the hall after him. He was still a couple hallways away from his room when he saw a group of people walking his way up the same hallway. Slightly panicked and tired of confrontation, he looked around and saw the entrance to the meditation garden by him, so he rushed over and ducked in. He kept by the door and waited until he heard the group's chatter approach, pass and fade away down the other end of the hall.

Marco sighed finally believeing he's gotten away from it all for a break. He turned around and couldn't help the slight intake of breath from the beauty of the small garden. There were trees fading in different colors and flowers that were still in bloom and he could faintly hear the babbling of water, probably a small waterfall in a little pond. He's been here before but always forgets how beautiful it is, and honestly he should come here more often.

He stepped forward and touched a flower, feeling his stress level lowering for the first time in a while, but then he started hearing strumming. He tensed and looked left then right and saw Oskar sitting on a rock carved bench, strumming away at a homely guitar. He barely seemed to have taken notice of Marco so he was wondering whether to leave while it wasn't too late, but then Oskar finally turned his head and gave a bob of greeting.

"Hey." Oskar crooned. Marco gave a slight frown.

"What, are you going to give me grief for being 'with Mewni' too? I don't want to hear it!" He crossed his arms showing his guard was up, still wound up from all that's happened before hand.

"Ok." He said, facing foward once again, continuingly strumming away. Marco gave him a suspicious stare but walked toward him, trying to relax despite a mysterious variable in the same space. He remembered Oskar was the mysterious one even back when Marco was here, never knowing what he was thinking, but _If I remember correctly,_ Marco thought, _He was the one more often then not who cheered me up when feeling stressed or worried..._

Marco wondered if he still could.

He cautiously walked past him to a bending willow tree in slight bloom not too far off from where Oskar was sitting. He sat in it's crest and soon, he was slightly swaying back and forth to the melodious tune Oskar was strumming out, almost involuntarily relaxing.

"Your new friend seems cool." He said after the silence descended into comfortable. Marco looked up at the break in the air but frowned after taking in the sentence.

"What? Is that sarcasm?" He jibed. Oskar lolled his head to face him and stopped strumming.

"No. She seems chill. Legit..." Marco cocked an eyebrow.

"Even though she's Mewni? You don't consider her the enemy or someone to be taken out because she's the princess?"

Oskar did some sort of nod by rolling his head over and back in a circle.

"There's no need for those kind of labels, man. Isn't that what we're fighting for?" Marco tensed up a bit, being reminded of the similar conversation he had with lars. What _is_ Oskar fighting for? "Slaves, ruler, weak, strong, magic, human... we all just want to be free. No one wants to be put down, and we'd only be like the people we're fighting if we treat friends that way."

"Exactly!" Marco sighed out in relief! Again, Oskar gets him. He should have never doubted him.

"Besides, you brought her home, man, and I trust your judgement. Besides, I approve." Marco's cheeks flushed a slight tint at the insinuation.

"What do you mean you approve?"

"What? I mean, I approve, you know... she's cool." He said, with an undertone of teasing. Marco blushed a little deeper.

"Don't make fun of me! It's not like that!"

"Huh? You mean she's not cool-?"

"Oskar!" Marco cried out while Oskar chuckled.

Star officially was bored. She explored every inch of that small mud room, and she felt like she was not exaggerating when she says _every inch_ because it was small in the first place and she's been in there a while. She read the few magazines on the floor but none of the bigger books, because she got bored trying to read those story lines. She jumped on the bed until she was scared it would give way underneath her. She tried to carve pictures of warnicorns on the walls before the dirt crusting in her finger nails just became too unappealing. She was getting _really_ bored of waiting for Marco and that curtain was starting to look _sooo_ interesting. She crawled towards it and started admiring the stich work and the holes and how faded blue it looked.

"Huh... I wonder if it looks different on the other... side...!" She said to herself innocently, and rolled underneath it and soon she emerged in the space of the hallway, and she suddenly wasn't so interested in the curtain anymore... _You know, however much it was interesting in the first place..._ Star thought to herself getting up and dusting herself off. _Let's explore Earth a little more!_ She followed the hallway down the way, trying to stay in the main hallway and not deviate into the smaller ones, despite her curiosity. She found herself walking into a large room with a couple of chairs and a small fire place and some colorful small boxes in the corner that said things like 'Sorry!' and 'Monopoly.' _Where is this place?_ Star wondered as she walked in, but was startled as she realized there were others in the room.

"Wah!"

She noticed them after they popped their head up from the wide couch facing away from the door, looking quite like creeps.

"Wowie wow!" The robust one said, jumping out from the couch and sliding up to her in a smooth motion. "Hello~ Mama, the name's Ferguson, and _you_ are?" He said, going for her hand and leaning to kiss it.

The lean one came out as well in a slight panic."Ferg! That's the Mewni princess!" Ferguson froze in his track before kissing her hand and looked up at her.

"Huh?!" He jumped back a bit, but looked her up and down then leaned closer to inspect her face.

"Are you sure Alfonzo? She looks a bit..." He started with a slight sneer, making Star feel self conscious, so she looked down at herself and did see she was quite unkempt. "... not royalty." Star blushed and started combing her fingers through her hair to try and look a bit better.

"I'm sure!" He nodded, and pushed up his glasses with confidence. Ferguson huffed.

"Well, then, we are enemies!" He crossed his arms and looked away and Alfonzo copied him. Star felt slightly panicked as she reached out to get their attention back.

"W-wait! You don't have to see me as the Mewni princess! You can just see me as..." She looked up in thought. "... An Earth girl! Here, let's start over! I'm Star and I'd love to be friends!" She said, giving her best smile and putting her hand out. Ferguson looked over his shoulder intrigued.

"An Earth girl, huh? Then that means all bets are off!" He slide back up to her side. "I'm Ferguson~" He shook her hand. Star giggled but Alfonzo still frowned.

"How do we know this isn't a trick?"

"well... Why would it be! I've always wanted to come down to Earth to see everything and everyone Marco always told me about-!" They both leaned in toward her, now very engaged.

"You're friends with MARCO?!" They rang out together. Star blinked, surprised at their reaction.

"W-yea, is that bad?"

"No! Your so lucky! How is it that even people from space get to hang out with our old buddy more than us!" Ferguson whined, crossing his arms.

"Yea, it sucks, but you know, any friend of Marco is a friend of ours! Sorry about before, I'm Alfonzo." He introduced, and offered her his hand which she gladly took to shake.

"Don't worry about it! I mean, I can understand why you would be nervous around me..." She acknowledged.

"Yea~ Because I wouldn't know where to take you out~" Ferguson purred flirtatiously. Star blushed a bit then shook her head vigorously. "Oh, no no nonono, no way- no, I'm not looking for anyone and I'm not interested and just... no." She finished, ending with her arms in an 'x.' Ferguson gave a slight scowl and faced away from her.

"Fine. _Your_ loss, I have _plenty_ of women that would _throw_ themselves at my feet here. I'm considered... quite the _ladies man_." Alfonzo snorted but Star blinked in awe.

"Wow, really? What's that?" Ferguson chuckled.

"Well, little lady let me enlighten you..."

* * *

Marco plucked a small pink flower bud from the willow tree he was sitting underneath and looked it over as he listened to the latest story Oskar was telling him; a mission gone hilariously wrong during the time Marco was still on Mewni. Marco tuned him out a bit as he focused on the flower, observing it's beauty and serenity.

 _Small and pretty smelling...Pink... like Star's cheeks..._

His eyes went wide as he realized.

"STAR! What am I doing here, how long have I been gone, oh man, I'm such a bad knight!" He freaked, shooting up to his feet and looking around.

"Calm down man. I'm sure she's fine! Come on, we'll both go, reduce the gang-ups. No need to freak, I'm sure she's waiting in your room." Oskar said, placing the guitar down by his seat and standing in a fluid and steady pace. But geez was he moving like he was in slow motion, and Marco was getting irritated. Didn't he know he's in a rush?!

"Alright, fine, let's just go!" Marco jogged out and Oskar gave a little walking hop start before jogging after him. They rounded a corner and Marco spotted Janna talking to one of the cheerleaders down that hall. He let out an exasperated sigh but kept moving. Another one from his old team to try and give him grief for being with Star. Janna turned and spotted him and Marco stumbled to a stop when he saw the furious face directed at him as she started making his way over.

"It's alright dude, you got this!" Oskar encouraged from behind him where he stopped too, seeing the oncoming storm. Marco gulped but put on a determined face as he waited for her. She marched right up to him, both of their faces screwed up in some emotion and without stopping in momentum, she punched him in the gut and he bent over wheezing. He did not expect her to be so upset that she did that. Before he even caught his breath, his world whizzed around as he was forcefully set upright. He blinked, trying to reorient himself of what just happened and found he didn't see Janna where he last saw her but felt a pressure on his torso. One more blink and he realized she was now hugging him. He _also_ didn't expect this reaction from her for someone who was suppose to be upset with him.

"You dummy! I've been looking for you everywhere, Marco! You had me worried." She said, moving to look up at his face. Marco blinked one more time.

"Worried? What for?" He tried cautious, trying not to seem insensitive to her feelings.

"Idiot!" She snapped, punching him on the arm.

"OW!" He said with emphasis that was suppose to prompt explanation to all the hitting.

"We finally see you again, after we all thought you were captured and killed, looking like the enemy but fighting like a rebel! It was obvious to some degree you weren't completely on the enemy's side but we knew you weren't the same! I go looking for you and you're not seen, and obviously not being escorted with another rebel member, DUMMY!" She hit him on the arm again and Marco again cried out. "You know that was apart of the agreement for both of our well being's state of mind! And also, You being awol, I had no idea what you were going to do and if someone found you doing it before _I_ did _-_ and- and I could- I wouldn't be able to do anything-!"

Marco stopped her with a hug, burying her face into his shoulder, and after a beat she gladly took the offer, curling her hands around his back. He could obviously see she was getting hysterical over the topic. She wasn't mad, not really, she was more worried for his well being and whatever going through his mind that they can't trust it anymore since he's been with the enemy so long. Siding with them even. She was another ally Marco desperately needs on this rebel base.

"I'm sorry." Marco finally said after he noticed her breathing finally became regular. She peeled off him tiredly and blushed a bit after she saw Oskar behind him smiling like a goof. She looked down sheepishly.

"I guess you... were with someone... sorry." She said embarrassed.

"It's alright. So why were you looking for me?" He said, placing his hands on his hips, trying to get back into comfortable conversation.

"OH!" She cried with a smile on her face then shoved him back a little. "Well, man, where is she?!

* * *

"Oh no, and you don't get to hang out with Marco alot?"

"No, our squad deals mostly in communications with other bases while Marco goes out to the field alot. We barely see each other." Alfonzo said, moving his game peice in the board game they were teaching Star.

"You can't even talk to him using the communication thingies?" She asked reaching for the piece.

"It's not your turn and that's my piece." Ferguson said, slapping her hand away.

"Oh. Sorry. Again. For the 6th time." She chuckled bashfully.

"Anyway, no, because that's a different division. That's intra-base communications. We're inter-base, only bases outside of ours." Ferguson continued.

"Aw, that's so sad. Definitely, when this whole thing blows over, I'll make sure you and Marco... hang... out... alot" She said, hesitantly finishing her sentence as she realized what she was implying was that Marco stayed on Earth... _Wasn't that going to happen anyway? I-_

"STAR! There you are!" Marco called out as he entered the room. Star jumped, being startled out of her thought process but then she leaped to her feet to greet Marco.

"Oh, MARCO!" She giggled and did a wide circle in an animated display of the room. "Welcome to the _common room!_ Although it's anything but! They have games! A fireplace and seating!" She said, swaying her arms side to side to point out what she was talking about. Marco rolled his eyes but walked over with a smile.

"Star, I told you to wait in the room! You had me worried when you weren't in there." He said, shaking her shoulders. She took a hand and slide his arms away.

"I _knooow_ but I got bored!" She whined. She perked up as she remembered something. "Oh yea! And look who I~ FOUND~" She sang out, skipping backwards and motioning to the two who had stood up solemnly. Marco paused as he studied them for a second.

"Guys?" He managed, overwhelmed.

"Hey, Marco..." Alfonzo said with a lame smile and wave as Ferguson gave him a nod in greeting, and it was almost as though he was back in time, seeing them waiting for him in front of the high school.

"Oh my goodness! Ferguson! Alfonzo!" He cheered and ran forward and they all gathered together in an excited hug. "It's been forever since I've seen you two! How have you be-...!" His voice was droned out as all three began talking over each other in catching up.

"Wow... he's so happy..." Janna said after a while.

"Yea. Their biggest fears was that Marco wouldn't remember their names..." Star commented with almost tears in her eyes, standing next to Janna. Janna turned to her with a raised eyebrow and a slight smile as she waited for her episode to end, Star rubbing at her eye like a tear was dropping. Then she turned to Janna.

"Oh, I'm Star by the way!" She offered her hand which Janna took.

"Janna." She chuckled. "This is Oskar." She said, turning her body to put him in view.

"Oh, hi~" Star said, sort of giddily. He was _really_ cute. She might have liked him in another life.

They talked to each other and caught up for old friends and got to know each other for new ones. They got hungry not 10 minutes later so they headed over to the cafeteria, and Marco felt so much better about the stares and being judged by those around him as long as he had these people, these true friends by his side. It didn't bother him as much. But he didn't notice he wasn't getting as many nasty stares as he did before.

* * *

Marco helped Star get up from her seat as she lethargically leaned from side to side.

"Yea, I'm gonna take Star to go lay down. She shouldn't have eaten so much." He said in a scolding tone.

"I wanted to try all of Earth's cuisine!" She whined, causing Janna and them to laugh at her as they walked away.

"You didn't have to eat it all at once!" Marco chuckled at her.

"Well, I didn't know the next time I would get to..." She said softly, trailing her eyes from the ground up to Marco's shyly, causing Marco to pause in thought at the implication. He opened his mouth the say something comforting, say anything really when he heard a voice from ahead of them in the hall.

"Marco, Star... can I talk to you?" Jackie asked, her hands behind her back and balancing on one foot to shuffle the other into the ground humbly. Marco looked over at Star to see her looking at him.

"Sure." He said.

 _OoooooooooOooooooooOooooooo_

Marco and Star followed Jackie to a small dugout room that was used for general recreation and meetings. She walked to the wall as Marco and Star stopped in the middle as they waited for her to address them. She turned at the wall and leaned on it as she still struggled to make eye contact with either of them.

"I..." She started out, looking up at them before finding she couldn't still and continued her eyes to the roof. "I'm sorry... Star... Marco.. both of you." She got out and finally was able to look in their direction. "Star, I'm sorry I judged you for your cover. You were _born_ into this... you didn't exactly have a choice. Well, not that you didn't have a choice but that you weren't told... 'you can do this or you can not.' You just did it as it was taught to you. And to Marco, you taught her differently that she _did_ have a choice... and she took that other one. You weren't siding with her, you brought her to our side. We couldn't see that because you were still... _their_ princess. So, I'm sorry."

"Wow, Jackie..." Marco breathed, looking at her with awe, and Star seeing that, blushed a bit but jumped right into what she did best: talking.

"What exactly made you change your mind?" She asked, taking a small leap forward for their attention.

"Oh, your knights, Marco, that you brought here. They just hung around, and we realized they were really cool. They weren't mean, they weren't the enemy and we weren't the rebels. We were people being people. It felt normal again and I realized it was never the troops! It was the underlying ideals of Mewni. If we can destroy that, then _that's_ when we win. That's what we're fighting for."

"Wow..." All Marco managed to say again. She has really grown since he's been gone. Real leader material. It was almost as if he could get those deep lost feelings back again but...

"Uh-! Uh-! UM! MARCO!" She shouted and he jumped.

"Ow, my ear! What, Star?" He asked.

"Auuggggggghhhhh...!"

"Jackie! We've got company!" One of the adult authorities said as they came through the makeshift door. She gasped and shared a look with Marco and she ran out with the teacher with both Marco and Star following her to see what was going on.

 _OoooooooOooooooooOoooooooo_

The Queen took up the speaker as she stared down at the Earth in the location of Echo Creek with an angry glare. Since they still didn't know the exact location, all they could do was bring multiple small scale battleships to cover the whole area. She spoke into the speaker.

"Rebels of Earth! I know you have the princess, release her and we won't open fire on you!"

"She's bluffing." Jackie said, looking up at the situation from their safe dugout location that lead out to the open covered by shrub and foliage.

"Wait, this is all a misunderstanding! If I just go out to her and tell her, they'll leave you all alone!" Star argued.

"No, Marco! We can finally use this to end the rule Mewni has over us!" Jackie said, grabbing Marco' arm for his attention.

"No! Marco, you know we're trying to stop this the right way! That's why I've been taking my role as princess more seriously!"

"Oh please, and how much longer is that going to take?!"

"It's better than making them think you really did take me as prisoner!"

"Marco!"

"Marco!"

Marco rubbed his temples with his eyes closed as he thought about it.

"Let's... invite her down. To talk sensibly about this. She knows me. She just wants to know her daughter's safe. And yes, we can use Star to barter for peace, but we don't need a hostile angle." Marco reasoned. Jackie scoffed lightly but couldn't be complain. Star cheered slightly and jumped up, ready to run out there and flag down her mother's ship when marco grabbed her arm.

"No, not you. You're still a prisone...r..." He said firmly but trailing off at the end, feeling like he couldn't really be the one to talk when he was still a 'prisoner' himself. He guessed he must have got caught up, feeling like he was still the rebel leader in charge of his team. He let go of her arm. "Listen, we have communications with Bushes, let's have him call her down after assuring you're fine." Star gasped.

"Right! Alright, I'll go tell Ferguson." She said with determination to help. Marco chuckled.

"Yea, you go do that." He slightly waved as Star jogged off and returned his attention to the flying ships above them. He was absorded wondering how long he had, so he didn't notice Jackie studying him as he stared up. She couldn't believe him. He was like a whole different person, but at the same time the same one she knew her whole life. It was like unlocking a new side of Marco... a whole new side for her to fall in love with... but she didn't unlock this new side of Marco. She finally turned her eyes off of Marco to look off in the direction Star ran away.

 _That princess did..._

* * *

Bushes ushered down the ships to land at the clearance landing pad for Mewni troops and battalions. He still had doubts of Marco's intentions. Looking into his files after having time during this surrendered battle and he was native to this planet. He's no better than a glorified slave, he has no ties to the Mewni empire that aren't bad. He couldn't believe he empathized with the likes of him, he wasn't mewni.

The Queen hurriedly rushed off the ship as Bushes went to meet her. He got the messages so they somehow knew how to communicate with them, but he hopes he could find a way to respond back and find where the signal's coming from. Find those traitors and criminals.

He ushered her in and sat her down and filled her in on what had happened up to when they surrendered.

"But they sent a message saying to tell you she's fine, that she's safe."

"Oh, thank goodness..." She gasped out.

"But... I have to voice my concern, my Queen... I had the pleasure of meeting Marco. He's the captain of your most elite knights, he's excellent at planning and he's demonstrated great fighting skills! So then, why would he surrender in the middle of battle? It's not like Mewni's ideals to surrender! I know he's native to this planet, and with his planning, it's very possible that he met up with his old allies and used a pretense of surrender to get away from Mewni."

"What...?! I- he...!" The Queen delicately bit at her thumb. She wondered if he would really do so. This officer presented plenty of eveidence as to why he's thinking this way... and she was really hard on him, basically blackmailing him into leaving Star on her birthday. Now she's here on this planet and Maco surrendered Mewni's strongest soldiers to the enemy and she can't help but blame herself for this. This was all to her planning.

But if what they say is true...

"Bushes! We're getting another transmission." A soilder said.

"What? What does it say?" He asked, jogging over, giving the queen some time to think.

"It's from an unknown source, previously never dealt with before now..." He said, holding his Ear phone as he listened in to it. "It says... surrender now... and it won't attack... your mothership!"

"What?" The Queen said, shooting up in her chair. "How absurd! The Mewni mothership is the best battle ship in this known galaxy!" She said indignantly. A watchman soldier came rushing in, gasping for breath.

"You might want to see this!" He breathed.

* * *

Marco stepped out the dugout with Jackie along side him as they noticed the ships, the bigger, more armored ships, descending from the atmosphere looming over the Mewni ships making them seem like small recon ships, not ready for battle at all.

"Marco... whose that?" Jackie murmured, feeling dread wash over her, similar to when Mewni first came down to take over the planet.

"I have no idea..." He breathed in reply.

"Oh man..." Bushes moaned from his position back at the base.

"All your base are belong to me!" Ludo's voice rang out over the speaker down to Earth below.

They all gaped up at the huge ship in fear. Ludo patiently waited a good 30 seconds before giving a small groan indicating his patience was over.

"Did they not hear me? Is this thing not on?" He inquired, shaking the speaker phone. Toffee clacked at the keyboard he was stationed at a few feet away from Ludo and shook his head.

"No sir, it was working, they all should have heard you." Ludo gave a dissatisfied grunt at the lack of response from the objects of his aim.

"Then let's make them notice me!" He slammed down the phone, and picked up a staff, proceeding to point it at the aerial view of Echo Creek displayed on the front windshield of his main commanding room. There it could be seen the scattered, seemingly frozen ships belonging to Mewni.

"FIRE!" Ludo's ship started raining down hostile shots on the Mewni ships, the noise bringing the soldiers inside to life as the realization of what was happening sank in. They rushed to land, huge clouds of dust coming up from rush landings and lasers landing could be seen across the plains, visible from the hidden base of the rebels.

Those outside the rebel base watched in solemn silence at the chaos not too far from them. They were all deep in thoughts and wonder at this new threat when Jackie broke the silence as she addressed Marco.

"Are they on our side?" Jackie asked, wrapping a hand around Marco's forearm.

"I don't know..." Marco said with a small sigh. What did this mean? Where did this ship even come from, how does it fit into this story?

"Maybe we should try it, try teaming, then we can finally get Mewni off our-" Jackie tried, but Marco sharply turned towards her to cut her off.

"No! Better the devil you know than the devil you don't. They could be way worse than Mewni, and you heard that first announcement! They only want Earth as a territory for themselves. If anything, we have to get rid of this bigger threat before dealing with Mewni, alright?" He waited for Jackie's hesitant nod of agreement before turning back into the base. She just turned back to continue to watch the scene unfold.

The soldiers evacuated their ships in a mad rush while dodging lasers. However, once they entered the fortified communications base the lasers ceased.

"That woke them up..." Ludo said smugly with a satisfied smile.

Inside, Moon Butterfly could swear the ship looked familiar but she was too busy freaking out from all that was happening to think clearly.

"This is ABSURD! Someone _do_ something!" The king ordered around frantically while the queen didn't know what to do herself. She could claim to heaven and back that her Mewni Mothership was the best of the best constructed from magic and technology, but the ship hovering over the Earth's atmosphere dwarfing hers clearly shows these people have been doing some bulking up, and below the radar for that matter.

The Soldiers that filtered into the base flitting around like headless chickens weren't helping either. Bushes's face flushed with frustration at the lack of order going on in his base, _his base._ He prided himself on the order he keeps here and he wasn't about to let this carry on his presence. He let out a small growl and stood up on a chair to address all in the vicinity.

"ATTENTION!" He shouted out commandingly. All the soldiers stopped in their track either out of shock or out of command training. They all turned up to him as he regarded them all with a sneer that made them embarrassed in the way they were acting, heck, he almost made the royal couple feel embarrassed.

"We have a threat out there, putting our way of Mewni life at risk! We have a reputation to uphold as the best in the Galaxy and I need you all to get. it. TOGETHER!" He scolded. The soldiers slightly blushed with embarrassment but saluted with new resolve. They stood before him ready and able. The Commanding officer stepped down from the chair and moved over to talk to his Queen.

"Don't worry my queen, on behalf of the Mewni battalion, I assure you, we'll take care of this. Better than any rebel or traitorous human!" Bushes ensured, slightly adding in that last part bitterly with Diaz in mind. He was surely better than him, no matter how highly he regarded him before, he couldn't have been _all_ that.

Moon gave a small swallow to drown her nerves and finally let herself be calm at the assurance of Bushes. She took her husbands hand in further comfort and support.

"Take them out!"

They prepped up, loading ships they already had in bay and shoving on fortified armor, ready to tackle the enemy head on in a full frontal attack. No way were they going to back down from a battle of Strength. They were the Mewni empire! Their weapons were superior to all others, it's why they ruled all.

The Queen overlooked the soldiers in the room going over the plan one more time and felt her heart fill with hope. They were going to win! They were able!

"This will work!" She whispered to herself.

"Ok, so once their weapons have been trained on our front lines, the second wave will come in hot and we'll overwhelm them and bring them down. Everyone got it?! And Break!" The soldiers shouted their confirmation in a roar of confidence. They all rushed off into their fighter ships and took stations and started off onto the battle.

Ludo, who decided to wait for them to come out of the building in surrender, was lost in playing with his model ships, one Mewni and one that looked like his own ship models.

"Pew, pew... blast blast blast..." He murmured to himself in amusement. A small rumbled had him glancing up in curiosity.

"Toffee...!?" He commanded for an answer. Toffee waited a moment as those working the auxiliary computers to assess the situation, then the conclusion was sent to Toffee's monitor.

"It's the Mewnis, they've began a retaliation attack!" He reported. Another rumble almost caused Ludo to tumble off his tall seat. "They've already taken down 2 of our back-up ships!" Outside the giant doomsday ship, the Mewnis blasted their shots off while nimbly flying circles around their targets. Those in the ships react too late at the surprise attack. Other's had their weapons turned into flowers and water falls from the magic charge blasted at them from the Mewni battle ships.

"W- Well, don't just stand there! Attack back! I didn't come this far for _her_ to ruin my plans again..." Ludo commanded darkly. Toffee nodded with a "Yes Sir" and began communications with the support ships.

"You know what to do, we've prepared for this. Men and Women, shields up!" Toffee barked into the coms. Bushes laughed at the advances they were making.

"At this rate we'll have these losers driven out by sundown!" He commented. He noticed off by the corner of his eye that a nearby ship had it's weapons trained on him.

"Not today, Slime!" He laughed smugly. He cranked a handle to have his magic charge trained on the newly noticed ship and it soon gave the 'target locked' affirmation. He flipped a switch and pushed a button and a magical swirl of a built up spell gathered at the base of his ship coming forth from a focus rod that release in the direction of the enemy's ship. It was a direct hit and Bushes pumped his fist into the air from the success but then quickly griped back at his steering with both hands for balance when he felt his ship rock.

"Huh?!" He gasped out checking his surroundings. He gazed back where the enemy ship's weapons were suppose to have turned into idle useless things but saw the weapons were perfectly fine and functional, and actually charging up for another shot.

"Shoot!" He muttered and made evasive maneuver to get out of range and out of that situation. "What on Mewni...?" He asked himself from his position above the battle. He looked down to where another comrade was charging it's magic to blast at another enemy. Again, it made direct hit, but Bushes saw as the magic traces subsided that a shimmering that vaguely looked like a sphere around the ship appeared where the magic was making contact. Bushes eyes bulged as he noticed magic charge after magic charge the same things happened.

"No way..." He hit the communications to contact all ships. "They have Magic Shields! Retreat!" He shouted out. Some ships made maneuvers soon afterward to get out their battle and back towards the fort but others reamined in locked combat.

"But my shots still hit! I can still shoot 'em out the sky! I can still-!" One eager soldier shouted back excitedly as firing could be heard in the back, but then soon after, a bad explosion could be heard. "I'm hit! I'm hit! I'm going down!" And Bushes saw that one ship spin tailing down to Earth. He grimanced as he landed. He knew the only advantage they had over those guys were there assult magic, but without that edge, it was obvious their weapons would do more damage and faster.

"Retreat!" He repeated again more firmly for those that were still trying to stay. They began making their way back and the enemy were shooting after them, hitting many of them in engines and tanks.

"AAAAAA-"

"Well that didn't work." A burnt out and smoking Bushes said sheepishly in front of the pack of the rest of his troops that didn't look any better. The Queen looked on with a mortified look on her face before it quickly twisted to rage and disbelief.

"Oh, TOO INCOMPETENT-!"

"Look my queen!" The king cut her off and pointed off outside from a window near the front side of the base where Ludo's ship could be seen menacingly in the sky. They all scurried over in a rush to see what was in development next. There could be seen dark figures secretly making their ways to a fallen enemy ship.

"Who are they?" The king muttered to himself when a soldier made a pair of binoculars known.

"I'll find out sir." He answered, peaking through. They all waited in anticipation to what he was going to say.

"It's Diaz, sir!" He gasped out.

"What?!" Bushes barked out and grabbed at the device, shoving his own face in there. It could clearly be seen where the smoke from their last battle failed to cover was the faces of the rebels.

"What are they... doing?" Bushed muttered.

"Probably the same we are..." The Queen suggested watching the forms since they all couldn't look through the scope at once. ' _We'll just see how this pans out...'_ The Queen thought as everyone in the room hunkered down to see the outcomes of the rebel's attempt. Marco was signaling his team to move in, which comprised of Jackie, Janna, a cheerleader, Justin, and Jeremy. Before moving in, they had watched the Mewni's initial move and they all agreed it was stupid.

"A frontal assault is no way to treat a threat with no knowledge on what fire power they have to counter with." Jackie inputted, a hand on her chin in concentrated thought.

"A point in why we should use a more sneaky tactic." Janna said with wiggling fingers. Marco nodded his agreement.

"We'll take a small team to sneak aboard the ship." He said and looked around the company he had. "Jackie, Janna, Sabrine, and... Justin, for muscle if we need it." He counted off and Star's face fell to a pout.

"Aw, Marco, come on, take meee!" She complained. "You know I'm good for the fire power!"

"I know you're good for attacking, which is why the Mewni army just failed in their attempt just now. We're looking for a non-confrontational approach. If we do this right, we won't be fighting anyone." He said. "And I know you don't have covert training, so there would be no use having you come." He then realized he was being too cold and calculating and too 'in the war' zone then Star was probably used to. "Sorry." He added with a slight wince of sympathy.

"And what exactly is the goal in this "non-confrontational assault" Jeremy droned, piping in from his location leaning on a wall the door, going mostly unnoticed, putting quotation in the air, emphasizing his doubts of the mission.

"Ugh, not now, Jeremy, we don't need your Debbie downer attitude here." Janna moaned. Jeremy scoffed but Marco put his hands up in a pacifying manor.

"No, no, he has a point. Er, well, we'll want to render them useless so that they're not a threat, so I guess... take out their technology stuff?" Marco offered up to Jeremy's consideration. He just gave him a deadpanned face.

"Really? Their 'tech stuff?'" Marco flushed a bit from his tone and realized it did sound vague.

"Well, this is harder to do under time constrains, spur of the moment and with no prior intel! We just need something, even if it's not completely refined, to try so we're all just not sitting here waiting for death." He countered. Jeremy rolled his eyes.

"I guess, as long as you know what you're looking for..." He commented and proceeded to pick at the grime under his nail as Marco and the other higher ups exchanged looks of uncertainty. Jeremy noted the silence and lack of continual plan development and looked up.

"Really?" He scoffed.

"Why, you...!" Janna muttered darkly and made a move in his direction, but she was held back by Jackie.

"OK, ok, come on, what should we be looking for?" Marco sighed. Jeremy got off the wall with a finger to his chin while looking up in thought. He made his way over to the main table they were discussing around through the people that parted for him like waves.

"well, they can't keep floating up there without lithium batteries or fuel cells, messing with their MEMs could release some sort of chemicals that could kill them if goes unnoticed... and their digital nanoelectronics might ruin communications through their ship and to other ships... but that's just what I would go for..." He looked up to be met with unbelieving and awed faces. He blushed deeply from the silent judgement he was obviously getting.

"what?! I was into rockets _way_ before we were in this mess with the Mewni's and junk!"

"And we're bringing Jeremy." Marco added lastly.

Now they were making their way to an abandoned enemy ship to pose as one of them to get on board and carry out their plan in the first place. They all piled into the pretty spacious ship.

"Alright, we need to get this thing in the air." Marco said, while trying to assess the condition the ship was in, but obviously he was clueless on the technology, but he also felt awkward about asking Jeremy when they haven't exactly gelled in the past. Luckily for him, he had his girls.

"Alright Jer, that's your cue." Janna snickered, pushing forward the scrawny kid forward.

"Hey, I didn't come to be your punching bag!" He challenged.

"You didn't really volunteer to come in the first place. C'mon, we're on borrowed time, man..." Jackie replied with her arms folded by Marco sides. Jeremy grumbled while he trotted up to the controls before ducking underneath the control panels.

"Wouldn't even need me if I didn't know anything about rockets... don't know how valuable I really am... can't even say 'please'..." They heard some coherent grumbled as he pried a panel off and started plugging and rerouting wires connected on the circuit board. Marco waited in anticipation, really wondering how well this would work, but he couldn't ponder on it too long as the place hummed to life and Jeremy revealed himself from below the panel.

"There! Wow, I'm actually half surprised that worked, I couldn't recognize half the stuff I was messing with-" Jeremy stated before being pulled into a noogie by Janna.

"Nice, our little resident geek we never knew we had! You shoulda swallowed your ego and joined Marco's team sooner, you coulda been in the inner circle." Jeremy finally pried himself out of her grip.

"Oh _please_ like I'd want to be working under _Marco_ " He replied snootily. Janna rolled her eyes.

"Suit yourself." She said and turned back to Marco for further instructions, but Jeremy looked down in thought.

 _If I never want to work under him... why did the offer sound so nice...?_ He thought sadly to himself.

"Alright, now that we got this stuff up and running we just need to get up to the main ship and ask for them to open up. We'll say... we were severely damaged and need to get back in the bay for repairs then move out. Hopefully it won't be too hard to find this stuff.

"It should be out of the way from people, it's not exactly nice to have fuel cells hissing steam by your workplace." Jeremy piped in from his thoughts.

"Great, even more out of the way." Jackie cheered for the mission.

"Right, let's get this underway!" Marco said and took the controls.

The Mewnis watched as the ship carelessly lifted off the ground, haphazardly climbing into the sky before steading enough to make a beeline for the main ship.

"What are they planning?" The Queen asked to herself.

"It seems like they're going to sneak on board." Bushes whispered, slightly in awe and almost as if he said it louder, it would alert the enemy of their secret advances.

"What? What kind of cowardly approach is that!?" The King yelled out.

"Well, it's not the worst plan..." Bushes admitted. "It kinda eliminates the extent to which they can counter you." He again found himself in wonder of Diaz's thinking, and found himself cursing himself for trying the fall back in that mind set again. _No he's the enemy! It just mean he's crafty enough to have done that betraying plan and getting away from his slavery under Mewni._

"Look, they're approaching!" The Queen said to bring the attention back to the rebels. Back at the Rebel base, Star bit at her thumb nail in anticipation watching from a small deck outside, Ferguson and Alfonso was next to her.

"Oh, I can't watch!" Ferguson moan, covering his face with his hands.

"Well, you better figure out a way. Once they get inside, you won't have an option to watch them or not. And we won't be able to communicate with them until they're out because we don't know if they have internal communication detectors!" Alfonso informed and Ferguson gave him a small glare.

"It was an expression!"

Star was barely listening as she was worriedly watching them head to unknown danger. This was horrible, being in love! What if Marco didn't come back!? Then she would have never gotten the chance to tell him how she felt! But she knew she couldn't tell him earlier, it was most definitely not the right time in that tense situation with him reconnecting with his past life.

She couldn't live with herself if he never knew and she hated even more how she didn't have any sway in if he did or not. All she could do was watch and wait and leave his fate in the hands of those around him, including Jackie.

 _Ugh, Jackie._ She didn't hate her, definitely not, she seemed like a really chill person and maybe they could be friends one day, but she was her rival vying for Marco's affection which was causing her anxiety and stress and that was associated with Jackie. Star shook her head to get those thoughts of her head, now was not the time to be thinking about it.

She looked up where the ship was nearly at it's destination. There was something else that was bothering her about the enemy that has chosen now to come attack. It was almost as if they knew the Mewnis were here before they came purposely to corner them. And how the Mewni firing ships couldn't use their magic on the ships after initial firing.

"This is all too convenient..." she mumbled to herself, but caught the attention of the two in her company.

"Huh?" They uttered.

"And they almost look like they have Mewni weapons... but different..." Star commented, observing the rods and firing tools on the large ship. Marco and the team just reached the main ship's proximity by it's loading bay. Marco nervously reached for what looked like the communications speaker phone and was about to speak into it when Jeremy poked his head up by the panel and pressed a button and a white noise began filtering out the device. Marco gave a quick glance over at the small person and Jeremy gave a strained smile in return. He just then noticed how palpable the tension was in the small space and glance back over his shoulder to see everyone anxiously looking toward him. This was the big moment and they all hoped for the best.

"Go ahead, soldier." A voice came through the speaker, causing everyone to give a small start.

"Er-" Marco cleared his throat. "We took bad damage in the last battle with the Mewnis. We were just able to get off the ground now... can we gain access to the ship bay for repairs?" They held their breath awaiting the enemy's answers.

The pale blue skinned communications officer who was manning the radio with Marco turned around to face Toffee who was listening in. He nodded to the man and then motioned to another as he started for the door that led out to the rest of the ship. The sickle blue man turned the tuner back on to Marco.

"Go ahead, soldier, your clear for entrance." He issued. Back in the smaller ship glances were exchanged in wariness but were pleasantly surprised when the loading dock was opened.

"Isn't this too easy? They didn't ask for clearance or anything, we didn't even have to do any sort of salute." Jackie whispered by Marco's side as he eased the ship forward.

"We're just lucky they have such sucky security. Let's just take advantage of it." Jeremy chided in.

"I gotta go with the gremlin on this one, don't look a gifted horse in the mouth." Janna remarked, leaning by her leaders.

"Right, it doesn't change our plans of having to get in, so the only thing we can do is go forward. I can only advise everyone to be extra cautious. It could be a trap..." Marco said as the ship landed. They looked out the ship's front windshield, expecting soldiers to come spilling out to greet them or fix the ship or anything, but no one came.

"Eerie..." Justin shivered as they prepared to get off and into the empty loading dock.

"Alright guys, follow my lead..." Marco said getting out a small staff from behind his back before heading off the ship. Jackie and Janna got out their blunt weapons as well and followed with the others behind. Jeremy took out his Swiss army knife that the leaders at the rebel based gave to him to do his work on the ship and took the rear.

"You guys better protect me, this plan won't get off the ground without me..." He murmured from the back.

"Geez, maybe you wouldn't have been so great on Marco's team..." Janna mumbled.

"I'm sure we still would've been able to break something." Justin commented. Jeremy bristled.

"Shut it, this is the best plan and it involves me!"

"You shush! We are trying to sneak!?" Jackie scolded in a loud whisper.

"Alright guys, now you all seriously need to shut up, I'm opening the door into the actual ship." Marco whispered. Everyone stilled with nerves but then nodded back their understandings. He opened the door to see pristine white walls that turned left. Marco scooted along the wall with his baton up and ready to be used and peaked around the corner seeing nothing but a long hallway the split off two ways when it reached the end.

"Alright... Clear." Marco remarked and started down the hall with the others orderly behind him. Sabrina pulled out a scratched piece of paper and looked at it.

"Ok, so it looks like we turn right at the end of this hall...!" She said in a meek voice but Marco heard her.

"Right. We're almost there-!" He said but then he stopped in his track when an unfamiliar blue light began shining from the roof not too far ahead of them. It materialized into a blue ray that shot down to the ground.

"What-what's going on?"

"What is that?" Panicked voices in the group chimed out as the ray began forming beings in the immediate area. Marco's eyes widened as he slowly pieced together what was happening.

Toffee, wielding a space looking laser ray, stood at the forefront of a small group of soldiers holding the same weapon and they were all pointed at them. Marco looked down at his small rustic baton and knew this was not a match to fight. Toffee's face twisted from his cool calm demeanor into one of pure maniacal craze.

"Surprise!" He crooned out before they started firing.

"Ah! Watch my hair, watch my hair!" Jeremy screamed out as they started dodging lasers.

"Retreat!" Marco shouted out and began running back out. They closed the hatch and piled back into the ship.

"The doors aren't open!" Jackie shouted out. Just then a loud beeping was heard and the hatch began opening up to reveal the expanse of earth below them.

"What's going on...!?" Janna shouted out as they felt the ship tilt to one side. The enemy was going to drop them out of the sky! And with few ships actually in the loading dock since they were in use, there was no danger or extensive damage this would cause to them. They all began screaming as their little support ship began scraping along the floor and out towards the exit, then the floor ran out and they were free falling in the sky.

They all shouted out but Marco knew he had to get the ship up and running again to save them from a fiery splat on the ground. He reached the controls and pulled up on the handles. It wasn't working! He looked under the panel and found the wires were free flying around instead of touching each other. He turned around to find Jeremy curled in a ball and crying out with the others. He gave a small exasperated groan and shoved off towards him.

"Jeremy!" He tried to scream over his cries. Jeremy pried open his eyes to peek up at Marco's urging face. "You need to put the cables back together again!" He shouted. Jeremy looked around and realized he might live, so he stopped his hyperventilating and followed Marco back over to panel. Marco pulled up as Jeremy did his stuff under the panel. He felt the ship come to life not too far from the ground and they were able to start steering the ship as not to plummet straight down to Earth like a comet. The ship skidded the ground but failed to get much higher and they ended up crash landing in a trench not too far from where they started.

They all ground and rubbed their bruises but were generally just happy to be alive. Marco lightly punched Jeremy's arm as he came up.

"Good job... I know that couldn't have been easy under that pressure..." Marco remarked. Jeremy blushed slightly from the praise but just twisted his body away from his view and folded his arms.

"I don't need to be told that from the likes of you! I know how great I am." Marco huffed but still had a light smile on his face as they filtered out. Back up in the ship Ludo gave a small angry growl as Toffee came back in with the other troops after running the intruders off.

"Alright sir, the infiltrators have been stopped." He stated.

"But this is ridiculous! There is obviously a problem... I am being way too nice and much too liberal if they have the time to try these stunts with me!" He shouted out. "Let's cut that time short..." He muttered darkly.

Marco entered the rebel base only to be bombarded with Ferguson and Alfonzo's rapid and indecipherable yelling. He blinked in confusion before flailing his arms around to get their attention.

"Woah, woah, woah, slow down!" He cried and looked at both of them with swift head movements to make sure they were taking their calming breaths. "Now what's going on?"

"Star said she knows something about the enemy!" Alfonzo cried out and Marco's eyes widened then turned to face her location further into the room. She was slightly rubbing her arm and looking down sheepishly.

"I don't know for sure, but their weapons look familiar! Now I know I don't a lot about Mewni's army official weapons, but my mom does! If we could just...?"

"No way, Marco, we can't reunite her with the royal family! She's our only leverage right now!" Jackie protested, hearing most of the conversation along with the small team that was filtering in behind him.

"I know, but that will be useless if we get new oppressors we have to fight... If she thinks we can get farther along this battle by speaking to her mother, we should try it."

"Come on, we're not that desperate yet! We haven't even tried allying with those lizard guys in the sky yet-"

"Jackie, again?" Marco sighed, rolling his eyes. "They just shot at us while we were outmatched and then chucked us out into the sky and you think they might be amicable?"

"Well, we did start it first..." she murmured, folding her arms.

"Hey, I gotta side with Marco on this one." Janna said, coming up to Jackie's side and touching her arm to try and ease her out of her defensive stance. "We won't be giving her back to her mother anyway, we'll just be talking and she'll be able to throw in input. Cool?" Jackie looked down but inevitably let her arms dangle back by her sides.

"Yea. Cool."

"Kay, let's head out then..."

Upon approaching the Mewni's they were greeted with verbal abuse.

"Ha, did you guys see how hard you failed?!" One of the watchtower men hollered out from above.

"Seriously? you wanna talk!? You guys looked pathetic, getting your butts kicked by those small fighter jets!" Justin defended, shaking his fist at him as they approached.

"Hey, they were cheating!" Another yelled out from the window. "At least we fought them head on!"

"And look where that got you!" Jeremy scoffed.

"I could say the same." Bushes said calmly as he exited the building with the royal family behind him.

"STAR!" Her parents chorused out in unison.

"Hi guys!" She crooned from behind the wall of rebels.

"I see you guys came to your senses and finally brought our princess back!" Bushes remarked.

"Hey, she came willingly!" Marco said, then cringed as he thought about it, she came to earth willingly but didn't ask to be a prisoner of the Earth rebels.

"Oh my, and look at her, she looks a mess! who did that?" The mother cried at her disheveled appearance.

"Hey, we got her like that..." Janna replied smoothly.

"Liar! You're all cowards!" The king shouted out heatedly.

"Where are the grounds for such accusations-!"

"If you never came, I'd have made short work of these-!"

"Let Earth go-!"

"LONG LIVE MEWNI-!" Their ridiculous baseless yells and arguments began overlapping each other into a yelling fest but it was interrupted by a loud feedback screech in the direction of the looming ship. They all covered their ears and crouched down slightly in instinctive defense but looked up as a command came bellowing out from Ludo's speaker.

"Mewnies... Earthlings... Surrender the Earth by sunset or I will blow up the planet. That is all." They all stood there is shock and awe as realization slowly sunk in.

"What!?" Jackie screeched, putting her hands in her hair.

"Harsh." Jeremy huffed.

"All I ever did was threaten to crumble your cities. But your whole planet?" The Queen agreed. Marco's resolve steeled as he faced back to Bushes and the royal family.

"Listen, we think Star has intel to get us _all_ out of this mess, but we need you guys to _work_ with us. We need to think up a plan." He practically pleaded, keeping his eyes locked on Bushes. Bushes bit his lower lip as he tried to resist giving in Diaz's plea, he now hated having anything be Diaz's brilliant planning, because he shouldn't be so bright for a human, it's who they were claiming to be superior to. But now they needed to work as equals? Again? But if it was to live...

"Fine..." He breathed out dejectedly. In the back, Star let out a happy squeal.

OooooooooOooooooooooOoooooooo

Marco rolled out the piece of paper on the meeting room table that Jeremy had drawn out to try and navigate the ship to find the engines and devices they wanted to sabotage. The room was small and to keep it from becoming overbearing and overwhelming, they kept the people to a minimum on a need to know basis, which was Bushes, the Queen, Marco, Star and Jackie. Star was less of a need to know, more like insisted with claims that she was some sort of neutral grounds since she wanted to fight for both Earth and Mewni and would make sure there was no bias in the plan towards either. Marco looked over the paper while he thought about their two approaches they previously tried on this foreign enemy.

"We obviously can't win with brute strength over their instincts and preparation as we saw with your guys's battle, but one thing that can overcome their almost involuntary instinct can be a calculated strategy. We let them think they know how to react and then we come from behind with a hidden stratedgy." He said, starting to point out and mark ideas on the map at certain points.

"That doesn't sound like it'd work. You guys tried that already."

"Not really, we didn't try the hidden plan part, we just tried to sneak on with no pretense." Jackie corrected

"Yea, this should also work better now that we are working with you guys. It should be more believable." Marco concluded.

"Sounds good." Moon stated curtly looking at the map too. "And new weapons that'll help all of us stand a chance if there is interference."

"Nice." Jackie hummed.

"But can we trust them, My Queen?" Bushes asked.

The Queen studied Marco and thought back to all the time he spent with them on Mewni, how she was mean to him, not trusting his influence on her daughter, but now, if she thought about it... she'd trust Marco with her life, more importantly, with her daughter's.

"Of course." She said after a timely pause. "But right, didn't you have something of importance to say, Star?" She said, turning to her daughter.

"Right! Right, well, while I was watching the battles, the way the guns and stuff looked and how they fired... it looked a lot like our weapons, right mom?" She asked. Moon thought back to it; she remembered the feeling of familiarity when that ship first came in but couldn't dwell on it long.

"You're right... not just the weapons, the ship designs... do you think they might have gotten hands on our technology and created counter measures?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to make sure it was taken into consideration..." Star stated. "It's probably why our magic shots weren't affecting them after the first couple of hits."

"Oh... pooh." The Queen, murmured. Marco and Jackie exchanged looks.

"You don't have to worry about that with us, your majesty." Marco stated. "We don't exactly like Magic, so if it's just your normal damaging guns you'll supply us, I can't see us losing in a match against these guys."

The Queen looked up with bright eyes. "Right! If we give technology to those who don't know how it's meant to be used, then those who made a counter for it when used properly can't counter fully when in battle!" Star gave a small hiccup.

"Huh?" She honked out.

"Oh, the point is, this'll work!" She giggled, and excitedly batted at Bushes's shoulders.

"Great... so we'll have someone go up with the pretense that we're surrendering Earth and then they'll help us sneak on from inside and then we can sabotage and fight and drive them off Earth!" Marco completed. The all gave small cheers of agreement.

"Now we just need someone to go on board-"

"I'll do it." Jackie said from beside Marco shoulder, nearly making him jump him. "I want to do my part." She smiled. Marco smiled back.

"Alright. Then lets get out there and debrief our fellow teammates."

OooooooooooOoooooooooOooooooo

Ludo watched as the sun glowed an orange fading hue with irritation. Were they really that stubborn? This was ridiculous, but supposed it helped reach his final goal, then he could move on to blow up Mewni. Without their leader heads, they would be completely unprepared and defenseless and his revenge will have been sweet and complete.

"Start charging up the laser!" Ludo commanded and Toffee nodded as he relayed the order to those who were in charge of those controls.

"Charging...!"

"Wait sir, it seems one of the humans are trying to catch our attention." A worker said from his post. Ludo looked at the screen in front of him to see where a platinum blonde looked as though she was trying to wave down the ship. Ludo swallowed a disappointed groan, it wasn't Mewni, but this could work. Mewni couldn't leave the planet even if they weren't the one surrendering it.

"Cut lasers." Ludo curtly said and Toffee was quick to follow the orders. Jackie down on the ground panted with relief happy that they finally saw her and the glow from the lasers stopped increasing with intensity.

"Step under the tractor beam." Ludo's voice rang out through his amplified speaker. As he said it, a light emanating from the mother ship came down and landed, concentrated in a small area. Jackie looked back to the dug-out base nervously where Marco gave her a thumbs up and with a couple wave of his wrists, gave her encouragement to keep going.

She nodded and turned back to the ship. It was now or never. She made up her mind and she had to follow through.

 _For Earth._ She thought as she stepped forward. She placed a hand in the light, and when it did nothing but give her a slight tingling feeling where it made contact, she positioned her whole body under the beam. She felt her world disorient and almost felt as though her body was being stretched painlessly instead of the free falling feeling she was expecting. Before she knew it, she was in a glass chamber that lead out to a dimly lit square room connecting to a hallway more brightly lit. She pressed her hand against the glass and it slid upon without much more prompting. She let out a gasp but then shook her shoulders out to release some tension and anxiety. She could do this. Jackie stepped one hesitant sneaker clad foot out when a voice to her left invaded the silence.

"If you'll please follow me to my leader to concret this surrender." She nearly jumped out of her shoes and drop kicked the unknown entity. She steadied herself and took a breath as she gazed over and saw a tall lizard guy who was already moving to step out the room.

 _It's cool, remember your training…_ Her thoughts wandered to Marco, but feeling troubled at the thought of him, she shoved him out. _For now…_ She steeled her resolve again and moved to follow the alien enemy.

Toffee led her to the main bridge and moved out the way as Ludo swiveled in his chair to face her.

" _Weeeellllcome~!"_ He droned, probably trying to sound menacing. But Jackie wasn't buying it, a disbelieving expression glued on her face.

"A _kid?!"_ She let out, exasperated. _This is a disaster! Why did I think this would work-?!_ She thought, running a hand through her hair. Ludo sputtered indignantly, and was trying to process words of offense but Toffee beat him to it.

"I'll let you know Master Ludo is no kid, and it is very disrespectful to regard him as such! That's no way to treat your new ruler." Toffee said, letting the last sentence slide out in a reptilian growl.

"That's right! I've taken over countless planets, many of them having been Mewni at the time. We are much more powerful than your current slackers and you'd do best to recognize!" He said, standing up and snapping from his head to his opposite hip down by his knee. Jackie regarded him cautiously. _Then maybe this_ can _work…_

"Alright." She said, nodding. "Ok, well, we surrender to you. Now, I want to make a deal." Ludo looked on, again looking insulted.

"What is with you? You're not exactly in a position to make a deal!" Jackie barely suppressed her smirk.

"Don't worry, you'll like this one."

OoooooooOoooooooooOooooooooooO

Marco paced the base nervously. He didn't like how long it was taking for Jackie to somehow sneak them on board. What is they found out and already had to captured? But if they found out, then they'd blow up the Earth by now, right? What if they killed her but accepted the surrender? That's ridiculous. But… maybe they should send out another person? Just as he was about to start calling around for his team on the edge of hysteria, a crackling came from the comms.

Ferguson came to life and scrambled to slip on the headphones while putting up the volume on the speaker. First, no noise but crackling and perhaps a couple breaths were heard, then, "Marco? Are you the-re?" Jackie whispered in. Marco breathed a sigh of relief. There was no time for leisure catch up on her situation or how it went, she was most likely in a dangerous situation and the only thing they had time for were essentials. He picked up the out-transmitting communicator and breathed into the receiver, "Check, we read you, Jackie. Location of breach and time?" There was another pause.

"He's going to land for the night at 2100 hours. At that time, I'll leave an air lock open by the 3rd blaster. There shouldn't be any alerts or alarm since it'll be opened from the inside."

"Great. See you soon. Stay safe." He said back, and he waited a moment but then heard the cackling stop. Marco let his head dangled for a little while letting relief slip his breathing back into normal pattern. Star next to him placed her hand on his back and rubbed a small circle before he let his head up, peeking at her through his hair and let out a small smile. Star felt a heat crawl over her cheeks at the endearing sight but he pulled himself up to full height and turned away before he could notice.

"Alright guys, we have 2 hours to prep to board. Let's move, move, move!"

OoooooooooooOooooooooooooOooooooooooooO

The hours moved fast and soon the time to go was hovering closer like an impending pressure, seemingly crawling to an agonizing stop, creepily teasing them, trying to intimidate them. But Marco wouldn't let that get to him, and he snapped at everyone who seemed to try and let it get it them. They didn't seem to mind all that much, in fact it helped them remember their goal, become determined, shake off the nerves that seem to want to wrap them up in a tight squeeze.

As time grew closer, Star seemed a bit unnerved. And it seemed like the one person Marco wouldn't snap at. She finally, making sure her mother was not in the room, made her way over to Marco.

"Marco... for this mission, I want to come with." She said, taking a bracing breath and letting it out with her request. Marco looked her weird and then let out a breath, slowly shaking his head. He had enough stress trying to have this plan work out for everyone, and he was still worried about Jackie if she was still safe or hiding out, but he really didn't want to worry about Star as well.

"Star... I can't have you go. I don't have time to worry about your well being as a risk to the mission-"

"What? No, I'm not trying to go as some sort of spectator. I want to help fight."

"Star... if things go well, we won't have to fight. What we're trying to do, you don't have the training for."

"Marco, don't give me that, what is it, sneaking around? I've been sneaking around my mother my whole life-"

"You-you, Star, I just can't...!" Marco put his hands in his hair, but Star put a hand on his shoulder, getting him to calm down some.

"Marco... don't you trust me? I thought when we worked together in the forest... working on our fighting and fighting monsters together, we learned how to keep each other's back. Didn't I earn your trust, show you my skill enough to show you I can take care of myself and be of help?" She asked, and wiggled out her wand to emphasize. Marco gave her an appraising stare. He supposed he was being a little too over protective of her. But he just doesn't want her getting hurt, he didn't know what he'd do with himself if she got hurt because he brought her along, couldn't protect her.

He was worried out of his mind when he first saw her and she had that gash on her head.

"Star..." He started, and Star tensed up, feeling like he was about to reject her again. "... Yea, ok. You can come." Star let out a breath she was holding.

"Oh, _phew_! I thought I'd have to sneak about and follow you again. Geez, it was almost worse than trying to talk to my mother!"

"Really?" A regal voice chimed behind Star. Star froze then a bored look came over her.

"My mother's right behind me, isn't she?" She intoned, deadpanned.

"Don't worry, I have been here the whole time, just outside the room." She commented, coming closer, letting her dress drift around her as though she were floating. Star blanched.

"Er... so you heard... all of it- MOM PLEASE, LET ME GO!" Star begged, throwing herself down on her knees in front of the woman. The mother sighed and looked up at Marco, and he tensed up at her stare, feeling a like he was caught in an act.

"I am not in charge of this operation, so, unfortunately, unlike back on Mewni, I have no say in whether you go or not. But, I do believe, Marco should know what letting you go entails. I won't let Star go without me, there is no if ands or buts about this, non-negotiable." The queen said.

"What?! Mooom, you don't trust me either? "Star crooned.

"No, It's just..." She put a finger up to her lip in hesitant thought. "There was something about this ship... very familiar, I can't shake this feeling. I think if you go, I should go and maybe I won't feel as... weird about it. But for now, I feel I need to go." She nodded. Star stood up next to Marco.

"Wow, so I can go and you won't be breathing down my neck?" Star asked, giving a point in her direction. Moon sighed.

"No... Star." She let out.

"Whoo, great, Marco, I promise, I'll be good." She cheered, turning to her friend to see him giving her a weird look. "What?"

"Your mom will have to go if you go..." He muttered, rubbing his chin, obviously reconsidering.

"No, Marco, nooooooo-!" She cried.

"No, don't worry, if I go, I'll stay by the exit... or some." The Queen muttered.

"What?! Or some?!" Marco asked.

"Well, it depends on the feeing I get when I get there, if I feel the need to explore out to quench my weird feelings, I'll go. Consider it that I'm going with a different mission in mind."

Marco put a hand to his head and Star stamped her feet.

"Mom, no, don't put it like that, you'll make it sound like a bad deal!"

"How can I be sure your side mission won't put our mission in jeprody?"

"Marco, I don't know what to tell you. But my intuition just tells me... I have to go and it... won't be a problem to your mission, Its a feeling."

Marco gave her a flat look while Star looked on nervously at his face, waiting for something to give.

"Ugggh, Fine."

"Yay!" Star cheered while Moon let her eyes slip closed. His agreeing really helped put some of her anxiety at ease. She really felt like something was wrong with this situation. She had to be there.

OoooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooOoooooooooooO

Marco watched from the dugout as the ship eased its blasters to land in the large and open savannah. He checked the time and it was almost 9 as Jackie said he'd land, now Marco just needed to make sure everything was quiet and safe to start heading to area. Star came soon after the ship was completely grounded and settled next to Marco as he watched out on the plains, waiting for 9 o clock.

"So... how are you feeling?" Star asked after a couple moments of quiet. Marco didn't reply as he gave it a lot of thought.

"I'm... surprisingly calm. And ready too. I'm ready to do this." Marco said, then turned his head to smile at Star. Star was seating with her back away from the ship, but she looked over to him as well.

"That's good... It's 9." Star gave him a small lopesided smile and Marco smile back, feeling unprecedented happiness at Star's presence. He felt calm before, but now he aslo feels reassured with Star by his side.

"Star... I'm happy you're coming with." He said with an earnest smile. Star blushed, looking at his honest face and looked away, brushing off the butterflies in her stomach.

"Finally you understand my worth. C'mon. Let's go."

"Right." He stood up with her and started heading out to meet up with the rest of his team.

Marco's team of Star, Janna, Jeremy, Justin, The cheerleaders and Moon started on their way toward the ship, using the darkness as their cover. Marco leaned up against the ship, panting slightly at having ran the distance from the base to the ship and began counting the blaster, twice to make sure the blaster was the right one. The door was exactly where Jackie said it would be, slightly ajar. Marco let out a steeling breath and looked back at his team and made a gesture for them to be quiet and follow him slowly. If there was a trap set up, they could get away.

He moved in and slowly opened the door but only saw a dimly lit long hallway. There was no one positioned there, no one near by, not even Jackie. That made Marco nervous, shouldn't she rendezvous with them? Or maybe she can't because she had to hide out? But that didn't make any sense, then how did she open the door? Theses people would've noticed that a door by the blasters was open right? She had to have opened it after they landed.

"What's the problem, broad face?" Jeremy whispered. Justin smacked him over the head.

"Shush, man, If Marco's waiting, there's a reason. Let him work." He scolded. Marco let out a breath. He didn't know if this was a trap but he couldn't just back down from a _probable_ trap. It didn't stop them before. They'll over come whatever the enemy tries to snare them in.

"Ok. Move in."

"I'm staying here." Moon piped up after they were all in. She didn't really feel the insistent urge to check out and calm her thoughts as she entered. Marco looked back at her but gave her a determined nod. "Come back safe." Moon continued, looking at Star this time. Star nodded, keeping by Marco's side. They moved on further into the hallway before Moon could no longer see them.

She sighed and leaned against the wall door, lifting an elegant hand to wipe at her forehead when that intuition came back. There was something urging her to go... find out what is up to this place. She got up and looked suspiciously to the left where a hallway could barely be made out in the darkness, unseen by the others. She daintily bit her lip but swallowed her doubt in order to sate her feelings. She moved into the darkness.

Marco couldn't say he wasn't nervous. Every corner they turned and every junction they come across, no guards, no nothing. He may have just not have been able to recognize the cameras they could have set up, thus allowing the enemy to know their locations and move to avoid them. That would mean they are already aware of their intrusion. That would mean this really is a trap!

"Marco."

Marco was pulled out of his thoughts by Star's soft probing.

"You ok?" She asked softly as they ran along the hall.

"Er, yea. It's just a little weird that there's no one here..." Marco said, stopping to look around a corner. Still no one! It unnerved him.

"Well, why did Ludo land? Maybe because they're all going to sleep? Or maybe they left the ship to stake their claim over Earth since Jackie did go under the pretense to surrender.

"But they wouldn't leave their ship unarmed... right?" He asked. Star gave him a small reassuring smile.

"It'll be fine, we just need to do what we need to do and get out, even better if we never run into them. So even if they set up a trap somewhere, it won't work if we leave first!" She said cheekily by the end. Marco chuckled at that.

"That true." He turned back to see the rest of the group successfully caught up and was waiting for him to continue. "Ok, we're at location C to continue on to destination Alpha. Jeremy, you got the USB, right?" He asked. Jeremy was caught slightly off guard and fumbled to pull it out quickly.

"Er, yea! Yea, right here." He said, holding up the sleek, tarnished drive. Marco nodded.

"Ok, Me, Justin and Star will stand guard while the cheerleaders go in with Jeremy in case there's any trouble." They all nodded back their understandings then eased around the corner where a door was immediately to their left. Jeremy kneeled down in front of the electronic door while the rest of the group covered him, glancing in all directions in case guards decided to do their jobs all of a sudden. He broke in promptly by hacking the lock and moved in swiftly like an eel and the girls followed him, leaving the other three outside.

"Wow, this is going well!" Star said, gripping the wand to her chest. Marco looked left and right, surveying the halls.

"I still don't like it..." Marco commented.

"Don't worry man, 3 more locations to go and then these people's ship will be useless to them and we'll be on equal grounds in fighting, plus the whole Mewni army to help." Justin commented. He slapped Marco on the back and he choked back a pained yell. "Without any technology to keep in touch, they'll be a jumbled mess easy to take down.

"Yea... true..." Marco mumbled, unable to shake the uneasy feelings.

"Marco!" Jeremy's urgent voice rang out from behind the door, and Marco swiftly turned and entered the room, by Jeremy's side in a heartbeat.

"Look!" He said, feeling Marco's presence upon him, and pointed to a screen that looked like a video was glitching into a 1 second loop, and in that loop Marco could see security footage catching Jackie. Being lead by two large soldiers. Through large grand doors.

 _Prisoner_.

"Jackie! She _did_ get captured! When was this?!" Marco cried out, feeling slightly panicked, Star and Justin having come in behind Marco. He looked at the time stamp to see it wasn't long after 9 pm. That may have been when they were even still trying to reach the ship across the savannah! So she got caught opening the door. But then why aren't there more guards? Or... Did she cover for them, saying she was trying to escape and they forgot that the door was open? That didn't make sense, then why are the hall empty?! He didn't like this-!

"Marco, breath!" Star shouted, taking his shoulders and shaking him slightly. Marco released the breath he didn't realize he was holding and he did find it easier to think now that he was breathing.

All that didn't matter, they just needed to find her first.

"Where is this?" Marco said once he's recovered, shaking Star off and returning to the screen. Star retracted her hands to her chest, feeling slightly hurt at the amount of attention he was giving Jackie, but she knew it was stupid, she was her childhood friend... But then she couldn't help but to think of when all this is over... What will Marco choose.

Jeremy looked at the hallway layout and the door then pulled out the map of the ship from his back pocket. He paled slightly before turning his green eyes onto Marco.

"This looks like... The main cockpit." Jeremy squeaked out. "She would be with the leader of the enemies."

Marco clenched his fists at his side, and then suddenly feeling Star's presence at his side, remembered to breath.

"That's fine, we'll need to go get her before we move on."

"Marco, that's stupid! We should do our mission first and then go get the girl! If we go first, they'll know we're here!" Jeremy scolded.

"But we don't know what they're doing to her right now! How long has it been, 10 minut-"

"That's too short to be worried right now!"

"I don't want to leave her in their hands any longer and let them have the chance to do anything!"

"Maaarco, you're being a buuuttt-!"

"C'mon, man, calling names is no way to argue." Justin scolded. One of the cheerleaders cleared her thoughts and the intense gazes fell on her.

"What if we split up and catch two birds with one stone?" Sabrina asked in a timid voice. Marco and Jeremy blinked at her before looking back at each other.

"Yea, I guess."

"That works, yea..."

"Ok, so we'll stay with Jeremy as guard like appointed, and you three go save Jackie. Ok?" Sabrina continued, clasping her hands together, happy to be of assistance. Marco gave her an approving smile.

"Yea, thanks. You really gave a calm solution in a tense situation. Good job. Let's move out guys." Marco said, turning away and moving out the door. Star gave smiles and thumbs up to the 4 left in the room and left behind Justin.

"See ya..." Jeremy mumbled. He gave a start then ran out the door quickly to catch them.

"Wait!" They turned around and suddenly Jeremy was super embarrassed. Why'd he run after them like that? "B-be... be careful..." He muttered, blushing and head downcast. Marco smirked at him.

"Yea, thanks. You too! And don't get caught, or else I'll have to go save you too!"

"Idiot! I should be saying that to you, your the one going straight to the head of the enemies!"

"Yea, ok." Marco laughed, turning off and running down the hall flanked by Justin and Star. Jeremy scoffed and returned back into the room only to be met by knowing smiles. His blush came back and he snapped at them, "What!?"

"Oh, nothing!" Sabrina called out.

"It was just sweet how you cared." Chantelle commented as well.

"Shut up, I didn't- I wasn't concerned, he was just- whatever!" He cussed, throwing his hands up in the air and returning to his work.

"Oh yea, how long does this take?" A cheerleader asked, looking over his shoulder.

"It takes about 20 minutes, cause their technology is different then ours and It has to effect the whole system in this sector... this could take a while, but as long as we stay out of sight and keep a low profile, they won't notice anything's wrong until it's too late." Jeremy commented, a proud smirk growing on his face as he worked.

"Mh!" They intoned, then fanned out at the door to stand guard.

 _Seriously, you stupid captain... be careful..._ Jeremy thought as he worked with the computer, that looping video a reminder of Marco's dangerous mission.

 _OooooooooooooooooooOOooooooooooooOOOooooooo_

Marco pressed his back against the wall, feeling his heart beating against his ribcage. The main bridge was just around the corner, at the end of the hall. Marco knew, he already peaked from his position and saw it looked exactly how it did in the video. That's definiately where they brought Jackie.

"Alright." He said, fixing his fierce gaze onto his two teammates. "We're going to go in as quietly as we can. If we go in unnoticed, we go along the wall to the nearest cover and make out way to try and free Jackie secretly. If we are noticed as soon as we walk in, then..." He lugged the thin and long Meni weapon from his back over to his front. "... Consider this a frontal assault."

Star nodded, holding her wand at the ready and Justin brought his weapon to the front as well.

"Roger." He curtly said. Marco nodded, nodding his head back around the corner before moving forward towards the door. Star moved in step with him.

 _I want to prove to Marco all that time we spent fighting together on Mewni wasn't some fluke... I can be of use to him... I am really good as a partner!_ She thought to herself as they closed in on the main room. They stopped right in front of the massive doors and each gave a nod to each other showing they were ready to head in and he eased the door open.

He looked in and saw it was dimly lit, like the first hallway they entered when boarding the ship. He couldn't see much, but that meant the light he was letting in from the hallway was more noticeable. But were they even still here? He had to at least scope the place out and they were ready to fight if need be. So he motioned to the other to head in but the stick to the walls and he began moving along the walls himself. He was halfway in when he heard a grunt. Then-

"No! It's a trap!"

"Huh?!" Marco cried out. _Moon-?!_ He barely had time to think when the lights were turned on, flooding his senses and blinding him for a moment. "Argh!" He cried out.

"Hahaha, you fell right into my trap! This is perfect, exactly how my little birdy said it would!" A scraggily voice cried out while Marco held his hand up to shield from the light. He heard a loud noise above him and he dived to the left to move out the way and as expected there was a loud crashing where just stood. He came out of his roll and looked back at where he was.

His eyes widened.

 _Star!_

She was caught under the cage by herself as Justin also had the instinct to move out the way once the dropping sound was upon them.

"Star!" His voice twinned with someone else and he looked up to his left to see Moon Butterfly in a cage up in the air by the front of the room. His eyes were then drawn to the ground at the front of the room where a tall and short lizard duo was standing with a nervous looking Jackie standing by them.

"J-Jackie!" Marco yelled out.

"Don't move!" The short lizard one shouted just as Marco stood to make a move. He brought his weapon around to aim it at them, and a loading sound to his right let him know Justin was trained on the other one too.

"Marco, is this how your officers act, you have bad disciplinary!" Moon shouted from her prison, that was actually being lowered to the ground now. Marco allowed her a fleeting glance before he focused back on his targets.

"What are you talking about? Jackie! Get away from them, don't worry, we'll cover you." Marco barked out. The small one let out a demeaning laugh while Jackie looked away from his stare guiltily.

"Oh! Oh, goodness, he actually still thinks you're with him! Too rich!"

"Jackie, what's going on!"

"Marco, get it through your head, she's betrayed you!" Moon yelled out, her cage already grounded. Marco's eyes widened in disbelief before returning to a glare.

"Stop spouting stuff off, Butterfly! Jackie!" He snapped, her name coming out sharp, directing her to make eye contact. "Explain!" There was no room for negotiation in his order.

"Marco..." She started off weakly, rubbing her arm slightly, then resolution filled her eyes. "It's over. I made a deal with Ludo and them. We hand them over the Butterflies and they let Earth go free." She said.

"What...?" Marco said, disbelief slacking his limbs as he lowered the gun slightly.

"M-marco...!" Star let out in a shaky voice.

"Jackie, you can't be serious, right?!" She nodded.

"I am."

"Yes, and it all went so nicely, the trap we set up. Grab them and take away their weapons." Ludo commanded. Justin turned his weapon on the solider nearing him that seemed to be coming out of the woodwork. Marco's weapon had already slipped down to the point where it pointed down towards the ground.

"Marco?" Star asked, worrying. For both herself and for Marco who seemed to be breaking down.

"Marco, please understand-" Jackie started, making a step forward.

"Yes, grab that one too, please Toffee." Ludo said, flippantly, a waving hand in Jackie's direction. Jackie yelled out a shout as Toffee grabbed her from behind before she could even react. Marco finally responded and lashed out just before a guard grabbed him from behind. His weapon was back in the air and trained on Toffee and Jackie.

"Let her go!" He growled out.

"What- What's going on?!" Jackie yelled out, directing her question at Ludo. He gave her a sly smile.

"Oh, did I never tell you? I was never going to let Earth go! You are all my prisoners now. Consider this a double cross, but thanks for the Butterflies!" He crooned. Jackie had shock over her face before it transformed into rage.

"What?!"

"Let her go!" Marco cried out again, giving the weapon a point in their direction.

"Drop the weapon or I'll kill her." Toffee commented calmly and Jackie tensed in his arms. She spent enough time with these guys to know he was serious.

"Marco!" Jackie cried out, cringing when how scared she was slipped into her voice. "Give up..." She let out weakly. Marco's hand shook slightly before he steadied them and dropped his weapon at his side. The solders behind him grabbed the weapon then secured their hands on his shoulders.

"Put them in the cage with Moon." Marco looked over to see Justin was de-armed as well, having given up after Marco did.

"No! Marco, no, I won't let them win like this!" Star shouted, and pulled out her wand, ready to blast at the cage.

"Star, nooo!" Moon cried out. Ludo let out a gasping cry.

"I can't believe it..." He said, softly, and made his way toward her cage.

"Stay away from me!" She said, and started up her wand. "Magical color-!" The cage around her glowed along with her wand and then she felt electric dance across her skin and she felt herself disconnect with consciousness. She collapsed to the ground, the wand rolling just within Ludo's reach.

"Star!" Moon cried out.

"Star!" Marco yelled, resisting against the solders to reach Star, but he was held back. He calmed down once he heard her groaning, and started getting up.

"What-... what was that...?" She asked, holding herself up.

"Star, are you ok?" Marco asked, as he was placed in the cage with Moon and Justin. The door was locked behind him.

"I'm fine." She growled, glaring at Ludo.

"For your info, that cage is synced with Magic, to let out equal voltage as much as it detects. Great for stopping attempts of escape." Ludo chuckled, walking himself to the front of the room once more where Toffee and Jackie were and climbed onto his throne type chair. "I can't believe how well this deal turned out for me! Even to the point where it includes things I couldn't even imagine accounting for! I never thought I'd get the Mewni wand as well as Star Butterfly! This is too good! Ah~ I'm on top of the world!" Ludo cheered happily. "I can't help but to thank you, Jackie bird."

"Shut up..." She grumbled.

"Who are you anyway! Why do you hate the Mewnies so much?" Star cried out.

"W-well, now Star..." The queen started out nervously, as if trying to steer the conversation away from that topic. Star's eyes widened.

"Were you from a planet that we took over? Did we bully you with magic like we did on Earth? I promise we're trying-!"

"Star! It's not that- definitely not that!" Her mother provided for her, although Jackie looked on as if seeing Star for the first time. Ludo allowed a deep chuckle to escape his lips, cackling and building up until its a sinister laughter filled with suspense.

"Star Butterfly... I am... your FATHER-!"

"NO! No, you stop right there, shut up, you are _not._ " The Queen interrupted with curt waves of her wrists. Ludo looked insulted to have been interrupted while Star looked to be about to pass out.

"Mother, is that true?"

"No, Star I swear to you, you are in no way related to that slimy lizard. He wouldn't have even raised you anyway." Star looked better, more relieved at hearing that news. They looked at Ludo who seemed to be nodding along in confirmation to her claim.

"Yes, yea, I suppose, I would have just ate you." Star gasped again.

"You see Star, he wanted my first born child as proof of our allegiance, but I wasn't about to let that happen, so I ended it."

"THE POINT IS!..." Ludo shouted, waiting for side conversations to die down and have the lime light again. "You were promised to me as a child."

"You were never promised my child, LUDO!" The queen exclaimed, shaking her fist that would probably be doing more than just shaking if she was out of their predicament.

"You agreed to my planet's customs when we teamed up, Lady, and now, I plan on keeping all of your promises myself. Your empire and child is mine! I'm sure grown child is just as tasty as little child. Take them away!"

"NO!"

"Star!"

"Marco!" They shouted out in chaos as the minions began picking up their cells and moving them away. Marco swayed in trying to keep his upright position but ultimately fell forward and grabbed the bars to keep from colliding his head on the bars. He looked up and saw Star next to him in a similar position, closer than ever as they were being funneled out in the same exit. They locked eyes for a moment and reached out to intertwine their fingers. Star's eyes were shining and pleading and her mouth opened and closed in a hesitant attempt to say something, and Marco found himself wanting to say _anything_ himself to comfort her, to let her know this was going to be ok and soon his mouth mimicked hers. Star didn't know how this would turn out, she didn't have her wand or powers and wouldn't know the next time she'd see Marco. Their hands were ripped away as Star's individual cell moved in the opposite direction.

"STAR!" He shouted, feeling his throat rash from the roar.

"Marco! Marco, I lo-!" She tried but was behind a sliding door before she could form the words. His hands slowly fell down, hanging limply over the end of the of his cell as a cold wash fell over his being. He felt numb and couldn't think. What was he suppose to do? What did he bring his team into?

OooooooooooooooOooooooooooOooooooooooo

The screen giving the only source of light in the small room showed the main room flood with lights then a cage crashing down on Star as Marco and Justin dived out the way and then they trained their weapons on enemies off the screen, before it looped again.

"Jeremy..." Sabrina hummed out in warning, watching the loop.

"Shut up. He knew what he was doing when he went. We each had our mission. We finish ours first." The young boy said, clacking away at the keys, but no matter what he told the girls or the façade he put on, the anxiety was making him shake slightly and he couldn't shake the bad feeling he had.

 _You're an idiot._ He thought, only making him feel worse. _But we finish first._

* * *

The dripping of the dungeon echoed in Marco's head as everything was blank to him. Justin had already stopped trying to snap him out of it, knowing he wouldn't until his fit is over.

Moon groaned into her hands.

"Oh, goodness, this is all my fault... Star was right. All the bad things we do only harbors up into a giant grudge against us, and we put ourselves in it by being so mean a heartless. If we weren't such... dictators, Star wouldn't be in this mess. This is... all my fault."

"Who is he?" Marco finally spoke, not really changing his expression or inflection of voice. "Ludo. Why is he...?" He left off expressively, generally meaning all he's done. The Queen lifted up a distressed and exhaughted face.

"Yes... I suppose I owe you an explanation. He's from when The empire was first starting."

OoooooooooOooooooooooOooooooooO

Jackie wiped up her tears, her hyperventilating finally stopping enough for her to even her breathing and sniff up the stray trails of boogers trying to slip past her nose. She feels so stupid. Why did she do this, why did she think this would work? Marco kept telling her, we don't know this enemy, we have way more experience with Mewnis, we'll know how they would react. But she just felt like this enemy was really after Mewnis, they didn't have any bad intentions with Earth or any of Mewni's colonies, but just trying to get ways to undermine and hurt the Mewnies. Like the rebels have been trying to do, but they were doing it on a larger scale, throughout the universe. If they really hated Mewnies as much as the Earthlings, they could work together with benefits for them both.

Jackie looked out of her cage with dull eyes, letting it roam aimlessly, the fight drained out of her, when it landed on her only warden and company in the dark lower brig.

"What's going to happen to us?" Jackie asked, her voice hoarse form crying so much. Hearing it just reminded and filled her of the regret, guilt, and stress she has. Toffee looked over at the girl apathetically before returning his neutral gaze onto a random spot.

"Ludo will be eating you one at a time. Although for our planet, we prefer small children or babies, it leaves less leftovers and quicker meals, as a ruler, Ludo can be as excessive as he wants. Plus, you guys are still young so you should taste fine. He'll probably just keep the old woman prisoner."

Jackie blanched at what he explained. They were going to be eaten? Who was firtst? Who went before her? Is anyone being eaten now? She was along here, so she had no idea what was going on with the others.

"T-toffee, wait, please! We've had a brief partnership, doesn't that count for something, can't you talk to your leader and get him to let everyone from Earth go? Or- or at least Marco...?" She said, her voice not nearly as steady as she would have liked it to be.

"No. There's no way he'd change his mind." Toffee said, but he finally let his gaze return to her with some consideration. "You offered to let this... Marco go. Who is he to you? Why at least him?"

Jackie raised her lowered gaze from when he had said it wouldn't change anything.

"He's my very best friend... He's... someone I l-... I love him..." Jackie choked out. "I'd do anything for him, which is why I betrayed him. I thought if I did something that would have turned out better for everyone at the end, he'd see why I had to do what I did and it would have been better, but I was a fool..." She cried again at the end and rubbed at her eyes to keep her tears at bay. Toffee sighed.

"I suppose I can relate in someway. I owe Ludo a lot myself. He's my master, my teacher and my best friend... and even if you are to die, I suppose I owe you at least the explanation why you find yourself in this situation now. I didn't always know Ludo, but when I met him, he was done wrong and he was very bitter."

OoOooooO

"It was a new Era of the Mewni empire. I was young and I wasn't even engaged to River yet. The hopes for the future of Mewni was to become the sole rulers of all the planets in the known universe, beyond if we could. As the heir, I had a lot of expectations and I suppose you could say I was eager to please. To the point where I drowned out my own conscious in order to make the powerful Mewni my parents wanted.

"On my coronation birthday ball, similar to the one we were having for Star before all this happened, I met a general from a small but productive planet with an efficient people, and we chatted all night. By the end, I already knew I wanted an alliance with this planet, to start our journey of conquering the galaxy. At the time, he was General Ludo.

"It went well, slow going at first, but with our planet's magic and his planet's defensive and advance technology, we had a steady rise, making colonies left and right. My parents dreams were slowly becoming a reality, and I delusionally thought it was mine, or at least refused to fight my pre-written destiny anymore. We were close to finishing off one solar system and were making plans to go into the next one, when I was summoned back home... they had found me suitor to join me in my conquest... River."

OoooooOooooO

"It was time for her arranged marriage so she left, requesting Ludo to continue the conquest without her. Just until she returned." Toffee said, rubbing the fabric of his sleeve, mindlessly fiddling with it. "Ludo knew what that meant... She would soon have a child. They've been working together for a while, so Ludo was looking to make this permanent. Once Moon returned from her marriage and they were on their way to the new solar system, Ludo did what was natural for him, what's customary on our planet."

Jackie leaned forward unconsciously. He twisted his head to look toward her.

"He asked for her first born as a sign of allegiance."

OooooooO

"You would imagine my surprise when he asked of me my first born! MY first born!" Moon got angry just thinking back to it again. "The nerve, my first born was to be my heir, and that piglet wanted it. And what's more, I learned later, it was for him to eat. Not to raise, or anything.

"Of course, I sent him packing. I barely needed him anymore, I had my new husband, new colonies, and solders to back me up on every planet that was mine. He was on the first escape pod on auto pilot back to his sorry little planet while I carried on to the next solar system to continue the Mewni empire."

OooooooO

"Ludo of course didn't ask before because she wasn't betrothed or preganant before, so without indication of a child, he wouldn't ask for a first born he wouldn't know would ever come. But now, they had worked years together, conquered planets in both their names, and their mark left throughout the stars, and she insisted he wasn't a factor, it was her colonies, he was barely an assistant. He was sent sailing back to his planet. That's where I met him.

"I won't deny, our planet is a little... naturally evil. So when he crashed in a crater near my home tribe and he emerged with such rage, vendetta and evil emitting from him... I admired him. The way he harbored it for years, crafted it and refined it into a perfect evil... I followed him and his ways and he taught me everything. He's still the most amazing person I've ever met, with cunning and craft that most evil dictators would envy after. But it wasn't all work with him... he's actually a little silly too..." Toffee couldn't help but chuckle and Jackie couldn't deny she saw that in him too, the moments she spent in that alliance.

"He'd get drunk some nights and confide in me secrets he wouldn't remember the next day. Try new technology only for it to blow up in his face. Truly, as time went on he became my best friend and I would do anything for him. As it came to be and Master Ludo's plan finally came into fruition not too long ago.

"Working and basically starting from the bottom up with the Mewnies, he obviously knew their mechanics inside and out. He was able to create counter measures for the magic attacks he knew of, and then he slowly started to undermine the empire."

OooooooO

"Of course I started to notice those planets that began to report in cases of unrest, rebellion and war. They began small, few and far in between on planets that we of little importance. Ludo had started on the insignificant planets to get momentum. I should've known, but I was too busy with bigger planet, bigger rebellions, you were just born and River was... well... anyway! I ignored it, never imagining it was Ludo. Once he started getting to bigger colonies, I started sending solders, but after a few weeks, they'd report in and say all is under control again, salute the empire, you know, swear their loyalty up and down so I wasn't suspicious. I never would have guessed it was Ludo this whole time, I didn't think... in my arrogance of a young queen, I thought being dismissed by me was humbling enough to rid of a non factor enemy! Now he has Star!" The queen placed her head in her hands feeling like crying again.

"I see... Marco hummed.

OooooooO

"Ludo now had the means to successfully undo the empire he helped build. It helped that any solders sent our way were able to be bribed to work for Ludo and keep the Queen off his doings. Now, he followed after the Queen's trail of conquering only to take it after her. He was determined to destroy the empire he helped and rebuild it in his own image, the image that the queen insisted Ludo didn't have in the alliance. It would be Ludo's empire. and by the time the Queen would have noticed, he would now be stronger than her to defeat her. And as you can see..." Toffee looked at the teen in the cage who was numbly looking off, who seemed more defeated at listening to the story. He was sitting with one knee up, holding up an arm, and leaning back with the other arm, by her cage as he spoke with her.

"...It worked." He began getting up, and felt a tug at his waist. He looked down at the girl once he was at his full height, but she looked not to have moved so he just turned off to stand in the corner of the room at attention as he was. Jackie worked hard to keep her face neutral, blank. Hopeless. But it was hard, her heart was beating too fast. She held fast the keys she snagged from Toffee's belt loop under her wrist away from sight.

 _Marco... I'm sorry... I'll make this right..._

* * *

Ludo giggled giddily to himself as he held the wand, it glowed in warning, keeping it's pink appearance but giving an eerie green glow.

"I can't believe it... The crown jewel of the Mewni empire...! Now they are powerless and I am now the single most powerful dictators in this whole galaxy! I'll use this power to my will and make citizens fall before me! I just need to...!" He shook the wand a little before frustration entered his voice. "Learn how it works! Grrrr! Toffee!"

OoooO

Toffee looked down at a small beeping on his wrist and then looked at the girl in the cage.

"I'll be back." He felt the need to comment. After sharing a sort of intimate memory, he felt closer to her, even if she was doomed to die. He moved to the door and headed out.

Jackie forced herself to calm down and wait. She waited, counting her breath for 10 counts to make sure he was gone before she sprang into action, whipping the keys out and maneuvered her wrists to bend outside the bars and twist the key into the lock. It opened and Jackie slipped out, making sure to close the door behind her and locking it back. It might throw them off if they return and find she's gone but the door is still locked. It will be less likely that they think she has the keys if the doors still locked, and that she escaped some other way. They'll still know she's escaped and on the ship, but they won't think she'll go straight to the other prisoners if they don't suspect she has the key right away.

She snaked towards the door and peaked her head out, left and right, then she moved nimbly down the halls to where she knew the others would be. She wouldn't have infiltrated the enemy base without also memorizing the layout and important rooms of the ship. She slid up against the wall to the door, waiting a couple of beats to catch her breath in case she would need to fight guards once she entered. She used the keys she got from Toffee on the door and let herself in. She saw Marco, Jackie and the Queen in their cage, hanging a couple feet in the air.

"MARCO!" Jackie cried out, overjoyed that they were all fine.

"Jackie?!" Marco and Justin cried out, scrambling to the edge to look down at her.

"Hold on, I'll get you out of here!" Jackie assured, looking around for some sort of lever. Justin wooed out in joy but Marco just bit his lip. He was still a little bitter about what Jackie did, but he knew it wouldn't help their escape if he held it over her right now.

"Over there, I noticed they pushed a button or something before we were raised up." Marco pointed off to her left. Jackie looked up and nodded then moved off to her left to push the button. The cage began to descend.

"We need to find Star. She must be scared out of her mind." Marco said, watching as Jackie unlocked their locks and he jumped out quickly, going back to the door to secure their position while Justin helped the Queen down from there.

"They may have brought her to a higher room to be..." The Queen started, but couldn't fid the strength to finish her sentence.

"Don't worry, we have this under control, we'll save her and we'll all get out." Justin told her, helping her remain upright as she dealt with the possibility Star was being prepped to be eaten.

"But wait!" She cried out, gripping the front of his shirt desperately. "We can't leave the wand with that monster. It's too powerful, he'll only be a threat sooner rather than later again!"

Marco bit his lip as he listened to the conversation and they made their way over. That's true, but they can always deal with the wand after they get-!

"What time is it?" Marco asked, whipping his head in his comrades direction. Justin blinked before checking a small sun powered watch he kept in his pocket.

"It's nearly 10 o clock." Marco nodded, taking in the information.

"Ok, we'll start to head towards Star, Justin, I'll need you to head toward location delta." He said. Justin's eyes widened in realization then he nodded in resolve.

"Right!"

"Moon, you need to head back to where the exit is, we'll rendezvous with you as planned. We promise- I promise... we won't leave without Star." Marco stated, grabbing her shoulder with resolve. The Queen looked a little concerned, but then she remembered, she knew Marco. She'll trust him, as an ally. This is what this whole operation was. The cooperation of colony with mother planet, like Star would have wanted. The Queen nodded.

"I'll wait for you." She conceded. Marco nodded.

"Let's head out." He said, going out the door.

OoooooooO

Ludo hit the wall as the wand propelled him backwards from its force.

"Wow! It's got a kick, but I'm sure I'll get use to it and manage. Then I will have such great power, no one would be able to resist!" Ludo said deviously. Toffee smiled at his leader as the wand slowly was changing it's appearance to it's new master as Ludo got the hang of its power.

"That's great sir, I'm happy to help. I'll go on and get back to my post then." Toffee intoned, giving a respectable bow in his direction, then started turning away to leave.

"Wait, Toffee, I feel like celebrating. Won't you fetch and cook that Mewni princess for me? It's been years in the waiting, and I do believe I deserve it for all the work I put into all this." Ludo said, trotting back over to his seat then placing the wand on a pedestal with a pillow by him. Toffee frowned slightly, feeling like he should go back to the girl instead but bowed again nonetheless.

"Sir." He moved for the door. "I'll drop her off to the chef then head back to my post." Ludo barely paid him any mind as he laughed giddily to himself, probably making new plans for the future as he had accomplished his goal for now.

Toffee strode down the hall, not knowing there were eyes on him. Marco brought his head back from around the corner.

"We still don't know where Star is, and we're getting no where by wandering around aimlessly. I say we follow him." Marco told Jackie.

"No, there's no saying that he's headed her way."

"Do you have a better idea?" Marco asked with a raised eyebrow and Jackie's mouth just flopped open and closed. She refused to listen to Marco before, she suppose she should go along with him from now on.

"No. Let's go." She said. He nodded then they trailed down the hall just as he turned the corner out of sight. Marco slowed as he reached the corner to peak around inconspicuously. He saw just as the elevator doors closed.

"Ok, come on." Marco said and ran up to the elevator with Jackie behind him. He watched the numbers on the elevators climb, indicating it didn't go up even two floors. "Alright, lets hurry." He said, pressing the up button and it soon opened revealing an empty elevator space. They climbed in and pressed the 3rd floor. Marco impatiently waited as it went up, shifting from foot to foot slightly. Jackie studied him from the corner of her eye.

 _He must really care for her..._ It slightly hurt Jackie, but something also clicked in her. She knew it's be hard to admit but it was obvious and inevitable. The doors opened and they sprang into action, running forward. It was only one long hallway with one door at the end. Marco kicked it down, not even considering if it was unlocked.

Toffee gasped as he turned around and Star's eyes lit up.

"Marco!" She cried out. She was currently in the back corner of a pink cage as Toffee had the door open and trying to reach her. He snarled animalisticly, and closed the door again.

"Don't worry Star, we'll get you!" Marco growled, lowering himself to a fighting stance.

"I don't know how you got out, but you're going back in and I'm telling Ludo to put this place on lockdown." He lunged forward and Star lurched forward to grasp the bars and watch.

"CAREFUL MARCO!" She cried out. Marco ducked as Toffee's leg swung around and over his head. Marco stayed ducked and darted back away from his as Jackie moved in and tried to hit at his head but he moved back as well. Marco came sliding back in trying to scissor kick his ankels and Ludo jumped up only to be kicked onto his back by Jackie coming at him while he was in the air.

He grunted and flipped backwards to come back onto his feet. But soon he was occupied with blocking Jackie's martial arts while Marco went to Star's cage. There was a key hole but also a keypad, which is probably how Toffee opened it without his keys. He grabbed the bars to steady himself as he went to reach for Toffee's keys Jackie gave him when we almost fell over because the cage door swung open. He stared at it then glared at Star who looked a little sheepish.

"You never tried to see if the door was unlocked?" He griped.

"Sorry! I didn't think he'd be that dumb!"

"Come on!" He barked and turned and ran to the door, turning back to make sure Star made it out the door safely. "Jackie!" He called. Jackie looked over and ducked from a punch Toffee threw. She ran over, Toffee hot on her tail.

"You think you can get away?" Toffee growled. "Your in our ship!" He was cut off when the door slammed in his face, automated. He jumped back, avoiding the collision to the door.

" _Your_ ship?" An annoying voice sounded out through the speaker. It chuckled rudely. "I'm sorry sir, but you've been overthrown. I've now rigged the whole place to be under my control. It's my ship now."

"Yea! Awesome, you sound so cool man!" Justin's voice rang out dimly in the back. A strangled noise came out and a slam.

"Justin, shut up! you ruined it!" Jeremy cried out.

"More intruders!" Toffee said to himself in realization, eyes wide. He went to the door and started trying to kick it down.

"Don't bother. Even if you were able to knock it down, I've got control of the elevator and I'd never let you down. Not in time anyway to warn your leader. And no one knows your in here, because I've isolated the speakers to this room so only you hear me. Oh! Wait, you idio- Haha, I'm gonna have to let you go. Have fun beating on a door." The voice cut off. Toffee gripped his hands in irritation. How could he let this happen.

"LUDO!" He cried out, banging on the door.

OooooooooO

Marco opened the elevator doors and let the girls in before slamming on the close button. He doesn't know why Toffee hadn't followed him yet. They were halfway from the 2nd floor to the 1st when it shuddered to a stop, and Marco felt a cold swear break out over him.

"W-what, why'd we stop?" Marco asked himself, pushing the buttons in a frenzy.

"Oh, stop your panicking idiot. I told you not to get caught." Jeremy's voice came out over the speaker and relief flooded him.

"Jeremy!" Marco cried out. "Is Justin-"

"Yea, he's fine, he's right here. I didn't want you going down to the first floor with no plan yet! Listen, our first plan to screw with the ship is going better than expected. We wanted it to run a virus through the system to make it go crazy and hopefully crash, but once I got it on the last computer and it seemed to link to the other infected computers and give me control. What's the plan now, I don't know exactly everything that happened with you guys, I only know you guys got caught."

"My wand! Ludo has it! We need it." Star said, clinging onto Marco's arm.

"Yea, your mom said that too. Its too powerful to leave in his hands. We go for that then we leave."

"Ok... Alright, I've got eyes... it's next to the guy. Oh geez, he looks like a grown baby man. What a shortie." Jeremy cackled at him. Marco smirked.

"Funny you should talk about sho-"

"Marco, you want my help or not?" Jeremy snapped, knowing what he was going to say next.

"Ok, here's the plan. You help us get the wand, but once we do, we all need to get out as soon as possible so the rest of the plan can go as planned. We don't want to give them any chance to escape." Marco said firmly.

"The rendezvous point, right?" Jeremy asked. "We're a little far from there. For that to work, I'm going to have to put the virus on auto drive to run it's course. They won't get control back, but neither will I. I can't say what will happen once I do that."

Marco nodded, taking that in, Star could see the gears turning.

"Ok, so then you watch us until we get the wand. Once we grab it and run, you activate the auto and run too. We'll meet up and get out the ship together." Marco devised and there was silence for a moment.

"A mad dash during an unpredictable break down? Sure." Jeremy said nonchalantly. Marco could practically hear the shrug in his voice. "I'll watch you guys and guide you so you have as little problems as possible. I'll change the cameras to go on loop so you aren't spotted by surveillance."

"Great. Thanks. Alright. Once we get down, where should we go?" Marco asked.

"OK, well you got some guards leading up to the main room but if you take the side hallway, you could get in before they even noticed you snuck past." Jeremy said, some clacking heard distantly.

"Great. When we leave, just ignore them and make a dash for the rendezvous. Anyway we can." Marco said, addressing the girls next to him now. They nodded.

"Alright. Let us down, Jeremy." Marco commanded. He heard the speaker cut off but the elevator rumbled back to life and the door dinged and let them out to the hallway they followed Toffee down.

"Let's go." Marco said lowly and followed the wall quickly moving towards their destination.

OooooooooooO

Ludo drummed his fingers impatiently. How long did it take to get a girl ready to be eaten? He didn't want to wait much longer and it was dampening his celebratory mood. Maybe he should call for Toffee again and tell him to tell the chef to hurry up. Once he finished eating and get a good night's rest, he'll properly take over this Earth Colony for himself tomorrow. He lazily looked over at his wand. Maybe he could fiddle with it some more? He giggled to himself, he couldn't resist and snatched it up, unaware of the hand that was slowly creeping for it. It zipped back in frustration.

"Ok.. let's see... I should write down some spells... what did I say earlier? Glob blast?" He mused, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Yes, I should definitely write this stuff down." He placed the wand back down and leaned over to the dash of the controls to pick up a pen and paper.

"Ok, glob blast... supreme! No, supreme blob glast- er I mean, royal blast of blob! Yes!" He giggled again. "I like it! Let's try it!" He stretched his hand out to grab the wand and felt a chill run through him when it didn't meet his hands. His head whipped in its direction only to see the pillow missing it's prize, then he whirled his head around the room to find out what possibly could be the problem and he saw the princess and Jackie and that dumb kid from before running towards the door. His eyes widened in surprise.

"No- They've escaped! Intruders! Toffee! they've got the wand!" Ludo cried out, pushing a bunch of buttons on the dash. A few solders ran in while others were heard trying to fight the kids. "We can't let them escape! Get this ship in the air. They won't be able to leave if we're thousands of feet in the air!" Ludo ordered and the solders ran to their positions in the cockpit.

They didn't notice yet as sparks flew off the dashes when they pressed certain controls.

Marco and Jackie hesitated in their run as the amount of guard tried to stop their advancement, but Star leaped in front of them and aimed it at the lot of them.

"Giant syrup tsunami!" She cried out, flood them out of the way and sticking them to the wall as the spell completed its course. "hurry up!" Star cried out, lights already started to flicking on and off, creating pockets of darkness in front of them. Up in the room Toffee was in, the door flew open in its sporadic act. Toffee, who was sitting against the door in defeat was caught off guard from the sudden movement, but then his eyes lit in understanding and resolve.

"LUDO!" He cried out, heading for the elevator, and hoping that even in this crazy event, it would still work long enough for him to ride down.

Marco turned a corner, nearing the rendezvous point, and almost punched the lights out of Jeremy when he suddenly turned the corner as well.

"GOSH, Marco, what the hell!" He cried out, face flush, but the others were behind him.

"Great, we're all together, c'mon it's this-... were you lost?" Marco asked. Jeremy blush deepened.

"Shut up! You said this way? Let's go already!" they ran down the hall together. They turned and saw Moon who seemed to be steadying herself against a wall, her face aghast.

"Mom!" Star cried out, puling ahead of the rest to collide in her in a hug.

"Star! Oh-! Marco, we have a problem!" Moon said, pointing towards the door they first entered the ship through. Marco threw the door open, and his face fell as he saw they were rapidly gaining distance from the ground, barely able to see the rebels and Mewni solders positioned on the savannah, the blasters irregularly turning on and off.

"Oh no... I didn't even feel us take off."

"This is bad, I don't wanna crash with this dumb ship!" Jeremy cried out. Star held Marco's hand and when he faced her, she gave him a look of resolution.

"No, we'll be fine. Mom." She said, turning towards her with a knowing look. Moon paled and shook her head.

"With all these people?!"

"It's fine! we just don't want to jump, ok? Anything to cushion the fall." Marco looked between Star and her mother as they exchanged, confused. Moon looked down but then back up with resolve.

"Alright." She said. Both her and Star stepped back from the group and the group stared back, curious. They slightly bowed forward before gorgeous purple wings sprouted out from their backs. The teens stared in awe, slack jawed, before Marco finally commented, "That'll work."

* * *

Ferguson aimed the magic Mewni plasma cannon up at the sparking ship as the team came out, clinging at the winged Mewnies, coming down at an alarming rate from the weight of the people, but it was better than plummeting to Earth.

"STOP! No, STOP, what did you do to my beautiful ship!" Ludo's loud speaker came on, relaying his voice in a loud distorting shout once he saw them escaping. Inside the hull of it, Ludo's soilders fled by the dozens to nearest escape pods, exits and hiding places as they lost establishment of the controls, scared of their fate and trying to flee the ship. Ludo clutched at the controls wildly looking around.

"How...! How could my plan have failed?! So close... I was so close to succeeding! this wasn't suppose to happen, this never would have happened if Mewni never changed and never worked with those humans!" A firm claw onto his shoulders and He swiveled his head around to see Toffee with a gentle and beseeching look.

"Please sir...! We have to go!" Ludo felt as thought that was losing, admitting defeat. That all was lost. But he knew everything would really be lost if he didn't move it.

"Let's go, Toffee!" He bit out, jumping off his command chair.

Marco clutched desperately to Star's waist as she descended on her Mewni wings and shouted when he believed he was within earshot of Ferguson and Alfonzo manning the cannon.

"Now! Shoot it now!" He yelled out. Ferguson nodded and looked into the cross hairs attached on the hull of the gun and blasted when it lined up with the floating ship in the sky, both of them knocked back by the force. Marco crashed into the ground with Star, Jackie, Jeremy and everyone else Star had managed to carry, rolling forward to cushion the blow. He caught balance as he came out of the tumble and turned his head to watch the missile sail to the large hulking ship that threatened to come crashing down on Earth.

It made contact, bursting some debris off, but then exploded in Magical essence, creating a transparent looking sphere concentrated where it connected then burst outward towards the ship, sending it off speedily out of Earth's atmosphere, no longer threatening the town below with it's bodily damage.

Marco looked up as he watched the ship go, no one seeing if Toffee or Ludo made it off. It seemed the whole world held their breath as everyone watched in silence as it went. Marco felt it well up inside him first, then finally in one, unified victorious voice, everyone around him present for the final battle cheered out their happiness. It was over, and they won. Marco turned toward Star, who was still slightly dazed but letting out squeals in excitement, and picked her up in a sweeping hug around in a circle. He barely put her down before he was onslaught with everyone on his team congratulating him on a job well done, how kick butt he was, and general cheers. He peaked up from a head ruffle he was currently being subjected to and his eyes fell on Jackie.

She wasn't too far from the group, but she stood off enough to seem out of the situation. She had her hands wrought together in anxiety and her face formed a soft unreadable expression as she looked on at Marco as though she wanted nothing more but to be over there with him in the celebration. Her hair was cascading down around her face framing it, the ocean green dye giving accent to her eyes, and the excess magic from the blast that threw the ship out of Earth's atmosphere rained down among her like a special effect. Marco's probably never seen her so beautiful since the invasion... and yet, this is probably the first time Marco didn't feel much from it. He almost felt numb, like his body wasn't letting him. He stepped forward to Jackie and noticed Star shifted next to him, like she made a move to follow him but then thought better of it and held back, and he also noticed Jackie's expression finally betrayed some emotion of regret before she looked down, hiding her expression from sight.

He finally stopped advancing when he was close enough that he could shuffle a foot out and touch the toes of her shoes. He didn't say anything at first, allowing the celebratory noises of everyone around him to help him focus on what he wants to say and remember its over now and to carefully choose his words. He opened his mouth to speak but he was cut off by Jackie.

"Marco, I'm really sorry... I just wanted to do what was right... or what I thought was right... at the time... I never meant for all this to happen." She said, finally turning her head up. Marco looked down onto her face... when did he get taller than her? Or so much taller that he had to look down? _A lot have changed,_ Marco thought as he remembered all that happened when he finally got back to Earth. _And when things change... they never go back to being the same._ Marco finally saw how his lack of reply was making Jackie fidget with nervousness.

"I-I don't know what else to say." Marco gave a small smile at her as she brought her fingers together in nerves.

"You know, Jackie, you don't have to worry about that... You know, we went through some trouble from what... was going on with you..." Marco chuckled off awkwardly, trying to avoid talking directly what she did so maybe she didn't feel as bad or so she didn't think he was still mad about it. "But you know, you came through when it mattered most, so I can't really be mad at you. You made up for it, you plenty made up for it." Marco assured, giving an acknowledged pat on her shoulder.

Jackie looked up at him with mixed emotions, ranging from relieved to confused. It seemed as though she felt Marco was trying to say something important with some underlying meaning. He turned away, letting his hand slide off her shoulder, and faced Star, who was still in the same place he left her but her attention was arrested by Ferguson and Alfonzo avidly speaking on their skills of shooting that giant ship in the sky. He gave a soft smile as that familiar feeling filled his chest at the sight of her.

"Wait!" Jackie finally called out after having recovered from what Marco said. He stopped and looked back at Jackie who had made a half step forward and held a hesitant hand out. At seeing his attention back on her, she composed herself and gathered her body back into standing.

"Well-well... we finally defeated Ludo's army… and the Mewnies aren't a threat anymore... What are _you_ going to do now?" Jackie asked. Marco gave her a fleeting look then returned his gaze to Star.

"I..." He started and then Star finally gave a glance in his direction and caught his eye. Her eyes widened and she darted her eyes around embarrassed before settling back on Marco's eyes and gave him a small blushing smile before turning back to Alfonzo who just imitated the boom of the torpedo. Marco gave a small smile and Jackie could read him like an open book.

"Ok... I get it..." Jackie commented as it seemed Marco forgot he was asked a question, He turned back to her, slightly embarrassed at the fact he left the conversation hanging too long. She just another smile in response.

"I get it." she repeated. Marco held her sad gaze before she finally nodded and turned away. Marco felt a tugging in his chest, feeling like he lost something really important and familiar. But that was ok... he'd be ok... because he had-

"MARCO!" Moon cried out happily as she made her way over from celebrating with her own close comrades. Marco jolted out of his thoughts and turned towards her, but Star's attention was caught by her mother and she began making her way over.

"I have nothing but thanks to you!" She cheered, grabbing his cheeks and pulling on them.

"AaahhaaAAh!" He cried out as she pulled his face around.

"Mother!" Star said scolding although she only looked on at Marco concerned. The Queen let go with a plop and Marco drew back, hands on his cheeks and Star at his elbow.

"Aherm, well, back to business. I think this trip and battle have been very enlightening." She said with resolve. "I clearly never valued any colony as anything other that property... maybe if I would have invested more time into the colonies, Mewni would be a much more prosperous and powerful empire..." Here she looked at Star. "So, I know when Star becomes Queen, she'll certainly lead the way of Mewni into something extraordinary..." She said, voice thick with affection. Star smiled back fondly, eyes shining.

"Thank you Mom..."

"Well, yes, now that this is all over, I've got to get things a little back into order so not everything falls on my little girl. First thing's first, we'll need each colony to have a representative to speak on the colony's behalf as we work _closely_ with each other for best interest." She gestured to Marco with her hand. "I believe you would be the representative for Earth as we move forward to work together?"

At this both Marco and Star stiffened slightly and eyes widened ever so slightly, something not unnoticed by the Queen. Her eyebrows drew together suspiciously.

"Unless, there's some sort of problem?"

Marco and Star looked at each other and turned back to the Queen as Star spoke.

"W-well... if Marco was Earth's representative... wouldn't that mean he'd stay on Earth?" The Queen blinked then let her eyebrow arch elegantly.

"Well, I suppose the people of Earth would want their representative on Earth to know the situation and for general relations... why? What is the matter?"

Marco and Star again exchanged looks and it was Marco who spoke this time, quietly with determination that spoke volumes.

"I'm Star's personal knight. I don't plan on leaving her side." Star brimmed with happiness next to him, as she tightened her grip she had on his forearm. The Queen barely noticed however as she only blinked again.

"Huh?" She asked blank. "But I thought all you've wanted to do was return to Earth since you got to Mewni! You're free now, but your volunteering to-!" She clamped her mouth shut as she finally took in the looks in the young ones eyes that seemed to mirror each other's although they were not looking at each other. They just felt the same... and the Queen got it. She gave a small smile as she allowed her head to incline forward slightly.

"Alright... However, Earth still needs a representative. Would you at least pick someone for that, Marco?" she asked, finally lifting her eyes up to his. Marco nodded and let his eyes wander away from Moon's for it only to land on someone not too far behind her. He let a small smile light his face.

"Jackie's my number one choice."

"Jackie? But she had betrayed us up on the ship. Why would she be a good representative?"

"A representative is suppose to have the best interests of the people it's representing, and Jackie only betrayed us because she had the best intentions. But yea, she'll need help, someone like an advisor." At this he smirked as he watched as Janna galloped up to Jackie and tackle her in a hug. "She's got that too."

 _They've always been my first choices. That won't change._

The Queen took in his expression and nodded with a solemn expression. "I'll trust you. I asked you for a reason after all..." Marco nodded as the Queen finally took her leave.

Marco turned with Star by his side and he began leisurely strolling down along the grass, just taking in the scenery of the savannah and sky.

"Sooo..." Star sang out softly after a few relaxing moments.

"Soooo?" Marco chuckled.

"What now?" She asked, leaning her head forward to peak at his expression. He smiled at her and suddenly couldn't wait for whatever was next, as long as she was in the picture.

"We'll see."

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading and hope this story was pleasing to you.** **Remember if you all have ideas for the epilogue, feel free to express it, I'll try to work with it.** **Until next time!**

"We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands."  
― Carl Sagan


	11. Epilouge

**Epilogue**

* * *

Star rolled out her slightly stiff neck and let out a loud groan.

"Ooooh, Marco, my neck hurts!" She whined out, her face still towards the ceiling. Marco looked up from his throne chair, having been rubbing absent mindedly at his stubble while he read some scrolls fresh from the village outside the gates. He bounded out of his seat to meet up with Star before she tripped over the steps she was heading towards.

"Well, what'd you do to it?" He asked, rubbing at her neck in soothing and kneading circles from behind. She melted into his caress and let out a relieved sigh as she let him lead her up the steps to her throne chair.

"Well, I was out fighting against Ludo's little lizard people trying to take down my colonies again with Ferguson and we riding the warnicorns. We had just succeeded in driving them off and back out into space from wherever they come from when Ferguson did this cool thing where he reared his horse back and his legs shimmied in the air and Ferguson held his sword out, it was all so very cool, so I wanted to try it! I pulled on my Waricorn and... I fell off my horse and onto my back..." She finished off lamely at the end.

"What? Star, and you're neck hurts? How do we know you don't have spine damage, man we gotta get you to the royal physician and-" He said, starting to pull at her to stand back up, but Star resotluty stayed seated.

"Marco, I'm _fine_ , if I was really concerned about my injuries I'd go." Star waved off. Marco stopped pulling at her arm and bent down to her eye level, giving her a steely gaze, searching her eyes. He knew that if she was hiding something or was actually concerned but was putting on a brave front, this look always makes her give in. She just gave the look back, her blue eyes shining in determination. Marco let out a sigh and then started tracing his thumb over a small x shaped scar on her cheek under her left eye that he actually thought looked cute, and he often did it when giving Star affection.

"Alright..." He breathed out defeated. "As long as you're not worried." He huffed then leaned forward and gave her a peck on her nose. She scrunched up her nose from the ticklish light contact then returned it to his nose.

"Right. So, have you and Alfonzo found any leads on where Ludo's army is hiding? Where they keep coming from?" Star asked, sitting up straighter. Marco distractedly sweeped Star's long hair away from her shoulders to cascade behind her as he considered the question.

"Mmmhh... no. I don't know what they're using but they're definitely innovative to have been able to develop something to deter magic and Earth's finest technology to track their movements. It's like they disappear to another dimension out of reach when they pass a certain point, our trackers can't find them, even if we plant a device on their ship. It's a mystery and Jeremy's frustrated." Marco chuckled the last part. Star slightly squealed.

"Oh~ And how is Jeremy and Jackie?" Star asked, with a little poking at Marco's side. Marco barely kept in a barking laugh before he swatted at Star's hand embarrassed. "Star, I already told you they're not a thing! If anything I would think her and Janna are closer than her and Jeremy."

"Really? I don't know, I feel like that's too obvious and they're just gonna drop a bomb on all of us one day, but it won't catch me off guard, I'll already be prepared for it." Star bragged, getting up and giving a cocky hair flip. As she walked back down the throne room, Marco matched her steps to follow her.

"Well, besides that, you know how we were going to go to colony Talsmarian with the whistling elf creatures? They sent in advance a list of complaints for us to consider before we arrive, like a briefing on what we should look out for. I was just reading it over when you came back."

"Oh, blah, blah, blah, we'll get the feel of what they need when we get there, sometimes they'll complain about stuff that they think will solve their problems when there's a bigger thing they don't realize. Don't worry, babe, I'll take care of it as their Queen~!" She finished in a regal falsetto. "But if we're talking about prior engagements, Ferguson did ask about you and wanted to know if you were still coming over for game night?"

"Oh, of course! I wouldn't miss it. We've been having those every month since your coronation. How could I break the tradition?" Marco asked with a shrug.

"Oooh~I'm so happy you're hanging out with your childhood friends still. You don't understand how scared they were that they lost you, back when you guys were still the rebellion." Star mused, holding her head up in thought.

"That's more than what I could say for you. I don't understand why you have to keep in touch with Tom. He was your past love interest! Are you trying to make me jealous?" He asked, crossing his arms. Star cradled Marco's chin in her hand and shook his head towards her direction.

"Oh, Marco, don't be cute. I was young, I didn't know how important it was to have their planet as an ally, he's actually really strong as a nation and he's married already himself. It's nothing but friendship in these meetings. Besides, we want someone for little Light to play with! Today will be the first day we meet Tom's little Blaze!" Star cooed. She skipped forward excited.

"I _love_ babies, they're so cute!" Marco sighed, deciding to chalk this conversation up as his loss. He'll have to get along with Tom eventually. One day he might have to work with Tom for some reason. He lined up next to Star in front of large brown double doors just as she knocked lightly on it.

"Light, baby, it's time~!"

Marco could hear shuffling inside, coming ever closer, and he had to suppress and eye roll and the impulse to just open the door himself. This was something, Star personally wanted for their child, for them to have their space and privacy, something she felt like she was deprived as when younger. The door slowly swung open to see a young boy that barely came up to the doorknob, a pout on his child features. He had Moon's blueish white hair curled up in fluffy locks like Marco's but longer and straighter, and a mole by his chin. He did not look happy, but he was dressed accordingly in his royal outfit to meet the other royal family.

"Hey, Light, ready to go?" Star asked, bending over to his height, in a cooing voice.

"Mom, don't treat me like a child. Talk to me in a proper voice, _especially_ in front of the company!" He whined, crossing his arms and not meeting her eyes. Marco frowned a tad.

"Don't talk to your mother llike that, and look at her when she's speaking to you." Marco scolded, and he immediately straightened out at Marco's voice and met his mother's gaze. But the pout was still there.

"I don't want to go! I don't want to meet the fire people and I don't want to play with a fire child. What if they burn me? I'd rather play with Clover." He said, looking at his mother, with now almost pleading eyes.

"C'mon, there's no need to bring your baby sister into this! You can play with the baby after, but you have to meet Tom's kid at least once! They'll be important friends in the future. Especially if they're strong, then you can count on them to help you on anything you need, and if you show them _you're_ strong, they'll want to depend on you for things they'll need to!" Star reasoned to his leadership complex. He looked up in pretend thought, though after witnessing these exchange enough times, Marco knew Star already got Light hooked.

"Ok- BUT only this once!" The 7 year old bargained, holding up a single finger to emphasize.

"If you want." Star conceded, letting her eyes slip close amicably.

"Ok, let's go." He said, grabbing one of her hands. He stepped forward and held out his hand to Marco. Marco chuckled and held it. They walked together to the dining hall where a backward tug of the child between the two adults cause them to falter. Marco looked down to see a slightly stricken face on the child as he eyed the door nervously.

"Oh, come on, you're not walking into the fiery depth of the inferno." Star sighed. Marco debated something in his head before he bent down in front of the child.

"You scared?" He asked in a soft voice to encourage the child be vulnerable to him. The child seemed to consider the adult, to lie or to ignore him, whatever, before Light finally nodded. Marco let a small smile grace his features.

"Me too. We can get through it together. If you get too scared, you just tug on my pants two times, I'll get you out of there, ok? This is adult stuff, so you just leave the adult stuff to us." Light finally looked to relax a bit and he nodded. Marco smiled and gave him a wink and he stood back up.

"Alright. Let's see Tom!" Star cheered and opened the door with her free hand. She strode forward and when she saw Tom she pitched forward, allowing her child's hand to slip from her's.

"TOM!" She cheered, running forward and hugging him.

"Starship!" He said, giving a hug before he caught himself and peaked behind him where a fiery Red head raised an eyebrow at him. "Haha, I mean, Star. How have you been?"

"Great! I'm ready to start our new alliance together, especially because we've recently run into new problems with Ludo. Marco can tell you all about _that_ though!" Star said, letting her body step sideways to reveal Marco, Light hiding behind his legs, one hand firmly holding on to his coat to keep up.

"Tom." Marco said professionally.

"Marco." Tom replied similarly. A throat cleared behind him and he shook his head. "Right, let me introduce you, this is my wife, Reina." He said, bringing her forward, and her hips swayed dangerously.

"A pleasure~" She cooed, holding her hand out, palm down. Marco held it and kissed it in a courteous bow.

"For me as well." He replied politically. Star, standing next to him, elbowed him not so discreetly. He gave a cough at the impact.

"What?" He asked under her breath.

"Not so formal, we're suppose to be friends! you're making this awkward!" She whispered back. He rolled his eyes. _Right, right._

"And this is our daughter, Blaze." The wife beamed, her hair slightly wavering from pride. She reached behind her and pushed forward a little girl of 8. Her hair came in a swirling bob much like Tom's but crested over her ear. She wore a small kimono as though a kunoichi with leg warmers and bands on her arms and as her mother pushed her forward, she kept her arms crossed and her heels dug into the ground, resisting the action as she didn't move a muscle.

"Oh, hi Blaze! I'm Star, and this is Marco!" Star introduced, and just as Star was about to turn to introduce Light, Blaze raised her eyebrows.

"Marco?" She asked again. Marco let one eyebrow arch up questioningly.

"Yes, that's me." He said and Blaze's glare hardened.

"I'm learning to be an assassin so when I grow up, I can get you for taking Star away from my da-!" She said, starting to unfold her arms in her vigor, but Tom quickly covered her mouth leaving her to muffle into his hand. He looked up nervously at everyone around him.

"Ahaha, Kids say the darndest things, I-I have no idea where she got all that- she's not-" Tom chuckled out nervously. Marco let out a bellowing laugh.

"It's fine. You can try to assassinate me, little Blaze, you wouldn't be the first to try. You just might end up grounded for life." Marco said, giving her wispy hair a quick ruffle before sensing her starting to heat it up and pulled his hand away before it got burned, still with a carefree smile. Light, still hiding behind Marco, pulled on Star's dress. She looked over and bent down slightly.

"Hm?"

"Mommy, what does assassa mean?" He asked, fumbling over the actual word. Just as Star was about to answer, Blaze finally slapped her father's hand away from her mouth and bit out, "I _will_ kill you." Light's eyes widened and he jumped forward in front of Marco.

"Hey! You can't kill my daddy!" He cried out, holding his arms out to his side as though to protect the man behind him. Blaze blinked and then placed her hands on her hips.

"And why not? I'm already sixth fourths done with my training, I'm super skilled."

"Yea? Well, I'm training to be a knight king, like my mommy, so to try and kill him, you have to get through me first." He puffed out his chest.

"Yea, well...!" Blaze puffed out her cheeks. "Who are you?"

"I'm Light M. Diaz!" He stated, raising a hand royally. Blaze blinked then copied him.

"I'm Blaze the Demon Princess~" She crooned. "And assassin."

"What can you do?" He asked, after a beat, putting his hands behind his back.

"I know martial arts." Blaze said in a cursory bow.

"I know Karate!" Light shouted, pointing at himself.

"Oh, show me."

"Only if you show me!" Light counter, a small smile on his face.

"Sure!" She said. Star giggled and tapped his shoulder. Light looked up behind him.

"Why don't you go show her the castle too?" She asked softly.

"Yea! You can see my room, and Clover!" He said, turning away to head into the castle.

"Oh, no, don't go in Clover's room!" Star called after the laughing children running off.

"And that was our son, Light." Marco commented conversationally.

"Well... it went better than expected." Reina commented. Marco nodded in agreement.

"Er, anyway, Star was talking about a problem?" Tom said, shaking off what happened. Marco's eyebrows came down to show a serious expression.

"Yea. I'm sure Star told you about Ludo army?"

"Yea, she mentioned something in the messages." Tom nodded, also serious.

"Well, we've been using Mewni magic and Earth tech to try and track them, but after they pass a certain point, it seems they just fall out of existence, like they jump to a different dimension or something. We just cannot keep them on a radars no matter how hard we try and it's way too dangerous to tail them if we have no intel on their hideout." He said.

Tom nodded, but his hair seemed to flick left and right nervously.

"Dimensions...?" He seemed to say to himself. He looked over at Reina who nodded in approval.

"How long have this been happening?" Tom asked. Marco looked over at Star, both of them picking up that Tom knew something.

"A couple of years." Marco provided.

"A couple years ago... a relic of the fire empire was stolen. We don't know who stole it, there was no lead or anything, we considered it a perfect crime... But the relic was rumored to have the ability to... open pockets to different dimensions." Star's mouth dropped slightly.

"W-Wha, well that might be it! We could find Ludo's army and stop them. And get you your relic back. What information do you have on it?" Marco asked, getting excited.

"All of that is back home, we can talk about a date when you guys can come over and we can properly make arrangements on how we'll approach our new enemy."

"Great." Marco nodded and turned to Star. "This is crazy. We may take our fight across dimensions..."

* * *

 **End.**

 **Thank you all for your support. I had more fun than I thought I would writing this epilogue. We'll see if I make a sequel yet! Recap of what the epilogue states:**

 **Ludo retreated to become a hit-and-run enemy on the colonies to undermine the Mewnies**

 **Star fights her battle now, and gets scars on her face**

 **Marco keeps in touch with his old friends like he couldn't back in the rebellion**

 **Jackie and Janna might be dating? Hmmm?**

 **Star and Marco has 2 kids, 7 year old Light Manolo Diaz and newborn Clover Diaz**

 **Tom and (random person) Reina has one child Blaze**

 **There may be a relic that Ludo stole long ago to jump dimensions to keep off the Mewnies radar while harassing the colony**

 **Thank you, til next time.**

 **-Twila Star**


End file.
